


A Family Affair

by SandXDemonX13 (TurtleMusings)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Brother/Brother Incest, Feelings, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Incest, Infidelity, Itachi gets jealous, M/M, Masturbation, Naruto is losing it, No Uchiha Massacre, Rimming, Sasuke tops at least this once, Sibling Incest, Teasing, Uchihacest, also some plot appears, and angry, sweet and sappy things, things are just gonna get messy from here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:35:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 62,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurtleMusings/pseuds/SandXDemonX13
Summary: A feeling started growing in Sasuke’s chest the longer they laid there in silence. He thought maybe it was anxiety, but it didn’t exactly feel bad. It felt like a bubble, growing bigger and bigger with each passing, frantic thought he had.What made tonight different from last month, last year,three years ago?
Relationships: Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 53
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I'm excited to bring this to you guys. I used to write for many years over on FF.net, but life was life and it got away from me. This last year, I've really had an urge to come back to my fanfics again, and I decided to upload here as well.
> 
> This is actually a re-written, re-imagined version of a story I put over there about 10 years ago (which is still up) called The Uchihas. I'll be tackling it first and then working down a line of all my old fics to re-write and re-imagine them all to fit more with who I am now and my storytelling.
> 
> I hope you guys all enjoy this, and leave a review if you feel like it. I appreciate you all and hope you have a great day!
> 
> P.S. Sasuke is 18 in this, about to graduate high school. Itachi would be 23.

Itachi didn’t know why he still bothered to come into the teacher’s lounge during lunch to try and work. It had been proven time and again that it was a useless effort when every other teacher - read: Kakashi - was more interested in other things - read: gossiping - during the time.

But Itachi was _trying_ to socialize, in his own way. The principal had mentioned only several hundred times that it would be better if he tried to make some friends, get to know some of the people he worked with on a daily basis. Itachi reasoned instead that he already knew these people, or at least as much about them as he wanted to know, and that should have been enough.

It could never be said though, that Itachi wasn’t willing to put forth more effort than he needed to for a task sometimes. Even when it was a waste of his time.

“Did you see that this morning? I mean, we all kind of assumed, but for it to be _Naruto_ of all people…” Kakashi said as he walked into the teacher’s lounge, a book in front of his face that Itachi was sure he wasn’t reading.

Iruka and Kurenai were tailing him, both nodding their heads.

“I didn’t realize that was who Naruto had been talking about when he came to ask me for advice,” Iruka commented. The three of them sat down at the table next to Itachi and he only - _only_ \- rolled his eyes this time when Kakashi threw his feet up on the table and leaned his chair back. It was a better reaction than last time when...well, when one of them had their chair yanked out from under them and the other wound up with a shoe print on their face.

“He came to ask you for advice?” Kurenai asked. Kakashi looked over the top of his book with his visible eyebrow raised.

Iruka scoffed, “Don’t look so shocked!” He swatted Kurenai playfully on the shoulder and she laughed at him. “I’m the counselor and students, believe it or not, do come to me for counselling… I mean, sometimes.”

Kurenai laughed again. “Yeah, sure, Iruka, that’s why they had to give you a whole extra job to do, because you had _so many_ students to counsel.”

“Well what did he come to ask you?” Kakashi asked, wanting to get to the good stuff.

Itachi closed his eyes and silently berated himself for having listened this long. He had papers to grade and a pop quiz to make. He closed his laptop and started piling his papers on top of it, getting ready to head back to his classroom and just hole up there for the rest of lunch.

“What would we all have been worried about, in his situation?” Iruka said with a knowing nod. “Should I do it? Am I going to ruin a friendship? You know, those kinds of things.”

“True enough, I just can’t believe it would have been _him_. I wouldn’t have thought that Sasuke was, well...his type,” Kurenai said. Kakashi nodded in agreement with her.

Itachi stopped, his hand paused above the recycling bin to throw out his lunch container. He looked back at the three other faculty members, but they weren’t paying him any mind.

“Yeah, you know--”

“Did you say Sasuke?” Itachi interrupted.

Kurenai and Iruka looked over his way, obviously just now really noticing that he was in the room with them.

“Oh, Itachi,” Kakashi said, holding his book back up at eye level. “I forget, Sasuke’s your brother, isn’t he?”

“He is,” Itachi replied through gritted teeth. “Is everything okay?”

“You mean, you haven’t heard?” Kakashi asked. Itachi narrowed his eyes and felt like pulling the man’s chair out from under him again.

He didn’t! He wouldn’t, but oh, did he _want_ to.

Itachi took a longer breath in than he probably needed to and then breathed out with a quiet, annoyed, “Obviously.”

Kurenai giggled at him, hardly trying at all to cover it up, and Iruka looked at him with an apologetic gaze. Out of the three, Iruka he could at least tolerate.

Kakashi waved his hand dismissively in the air, “Oh, it’s nothing really. He and Naruto Uzumaki, they’re--”

  


“ _Dating_?!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he crossed the street on his way home from school. Sakura was running up behind him, screaming the one word at the top of her lungs.

That was all he’d been hearing since he and Naruto had shown up at school together today, holding hands. _“Oh, Sasuke, I can’t believe you like_ Naruto _!”, “Oh, Sasuke, did Naruto put you up to this for a dare or something?”,_ and then a couple, _“Dude, I can’t imagine you being gay.”_

Honestly, it was all giving him a headache, and Sakura’s continued shouting from behind him wasn’t helping anything at all.

“Sasuke! Sasuke, wait up! We need to talk about _this_!” Sakura yelled again.

Sasuke didn’t want to stop; didn’t know why he should. But he did. He turned around and watched her jog the last few yards to him with an exasperated look on her face while her arms were full of books.

She stopped in front of him and panted for a minute before she started on, what he figured, would be a tirade. “You and Naruto are _dating_?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes again and started back off toward home. Sakura fell into step beside him.

“Yes,” Sasuke said, “Not that it’s actually anyone’s business.”

“Well...no, of course not,” Sakura admitted. “But I’m just confused, is all. I wasn’t expecting--”

Sasuke sighed loudly and looked over at her, “You weren’t expecting _what_ , Sakura? Me to be gay? For me to like Naruto? Me to--”

“Woah, woah, Sasuke!” Sakura shook her head and held up her hands defensively. All her books fell to the ground and she swore when one of them fell on her foot. “Ouch, ouch, ouch,” she mumbled when she stopped to pick them up.

Sasuke looked at her and pursed his lips, wondering if he could get far enough away before she finished picking up her books. No, he finally decided on; he couldn’t, and there would be a real chance that she would just abandon her books to go after him. Admittedly, it was a small chance, but she’d done it before and Sasuke wasn’t feeling _that_ risky today.

Finally, he bent over and helped her pick up the last few books on the ground. Sakura took them from him with a smile and when they stood back up she said, “I’m sorry, Sasuke. I hadn’t meant it like that. I just meant, I wasn’t expecting you not to tell me.” She shrugged and nodded toward their next turn toward his house. “I wasn’t really expecting that the first time you’ve ever decided to date _anyone_ that I’d find out just like everybody else at school. I mean, I thought we were friends.”

“Uuuugh,” Sasuke groaned dramatically. The _Friend_ card. Now he felt bad. “Okay, I’m being an ass, but it’s been a long day,” he said.

“No, you aren’t,” Sakura argued, “I get it. You wanted your privacy, and you’re more than entitled to it, obviously.”

“When has anything ever been private from you, or _Naruto_ , for that matter?” he joked. They had all been friends since their early years in grade school, and regardless that Sakura had grown more into her studies over the years since she had her eye on medical school, Sasuke knew he could still go to her for anything.

Sakura laughed and bumped her shoulder against his. “Okay,” she said, “Let’s get one thing straight, immediately--”

“Other than me, you mean,” Sasuke bumped her back with a grin.

“Exactly. I’m super happy for you and Naruto. I’m happy for _you_ , Sasuke. Happy that you found someone and that you’re happy.” Sakura took a deep breath in and looked at him with excitement, “Okay blah, blah, blah--all that supportive stuff! Now I gotta know! What happened?!”

Sasuke shook his head, he could see the top of his house down the way. “I mean,” he said with a shrug, “honestly, nothing. It was...weird, I guess. Naruto kind of talked, you know, more than normal. A lot of rambling.”

“That’s nothing new,” Sakura agreed.

“Exactly,” Sasuke continued, “But, man, he was just _going on_. We were supposed to go to a movie, but when we started getting ready to go, he said he was nervous and then that he didn’t want to go. Finally, I just asked him what was up and he just kissed me.”

Sakura’s eyes widened just slightly, but she nodded. “He’s never been one for subtlety.”

“Mhm, so after that I made him sit down and actually explain to me what was going on, and he told me he liked me and he had for awhile and well...here we are now.”

“Okay, okay,” Sakura said, “Don’t get me wrong, because like I said, I’m super happy for you, but...man, I really thought this was gonna be a lot more like a fairytale story than just ‘shrug, yeah, it happened’.”

“Believe it or not, me too,” Sasuke said.

They both laughed as they came up to the gate to Sasuke’s house, but Sasuke’s laugh stopped as quickly as it had started when he looked into the driveway. Sakura turned her attention toward it as well and cocked her head to the side when she saw the somewhat familiar car in the drive.

“Is that…?”

“Itachi,” Sasuke breathed out quietly.

“Woah,” Sakura said, “It’s not like some holiday today and I missed it, right?” Sasuke shook his head, his eyes not leaving his brother’s car. “Then why is he here?”

“I have no idea, and I’m a little afraid to find out…”

Sakura hummed and threw an arm around Sasuke in a hug, “I’m going to take this as my queue to leave, but _definitely_ text me once you know why he’s here.”

Sasuke said his goodbyes to Sakura and started up the walk to the front door cautiously. He hadn’t seen much of his brother in the last three years, after all, aside from when he would come visit for a couple hours on holidays, but even those visits had lessened over the years. Even then, Itachi had almost seemed to make it a point to spend as little time with Sasuke as he could when he was over. Which was the complete opposite to how they used to be, before Itachi moved out.

Eyeing the door now, part of Sasuke looked forward to seeing Itachi. The other part though…

Sasuke sighed and opened the door.

“Look who’s here!” their mother, Mikoto chimed happily before Sasuke could even take his shoes off.

“Yeah, I saw,” Sasuke mumbled under his breath. He took off his shoes and hung his bag by the door.

He would swear to himself later, that when he looked up, he wasn’t looking for Itachi. He definitely _wasn’t_ trying to catch his brother’s eye and see how interested (or not) that he was to see him. He also _wasn’t_ actively excited when Itachi actually looked at him. _At_ him, not _through_. Because there was a difference and Sasuke knew it too well.

“Hi Sasuke,” Itachi said, and even though Sasuke didn’t want to admit it, he was happy.

Sasuke laid out in the backyard on the grass, looking up at the stars twinkling off in the distance. He’d texted Sakura hours ago to let her know that nothing was wrong, and his brother had just come over to say hi. She bought that about as much as he did, but Sasuke hadn’t been up for questioning Itachi about it too much.

He’d come outside about a half an hour ago, to keep from having an awkward goodbye when Itachi left, also so he could skip the light-hearted comments from their mother about how nice it was to see Itachi and how nice it must be for Sasuke to see his brother every day at school. Which was doubly awkward, since Sasuke had never had the heart to tell her that he and Itachi didn’t even speak to each other at school.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.”

Sasuke leaned his head back and saw, upside down, Itachi sliding the glass door to the backyard closed behind him. He quickly spun around to lean on his elbows as Itachi walked over and sat next to him on the grass.

“I thought you left,” Sasuke said.

Itachi shrugged and said, “I asked mom and dad if it would be okay if I stayed for a while to talk with you, and, well, you know that mom wasn’t going to say no.”

“Yeah…” Sasuke said vaguely with a nod. They watched each other for a moment in silence before Sasuke laid back on the ground to look up at the sky, if only because he had no better place to settle his gaze. It didn’t feel right to look at Itachi for too long, because maybe if he did, his brother would disappear again. Maybe if he did, then he’d wake up in the middle of class with a brother who hadn’t cared enough to come over “just to say hi.”

“I like watching the stars when the moon isn’t out,” Itachi said. He settled down onto his back in the grass, closer, Sasuke thought as he glanced from the corner of his eye, than he had been a minute ago. “There’s just something more calming about it to me.”

“I suppose,” Sasuke replied, not knowing what to say.

His brother was here, _right here_ and just talking with him as if nothing had ever changed. As if they hadn’t been exchanging little more than greetings for three years. As if they hadn’t become more or less ghosts in each other's lives. Existing, but invisible.

A feeling started growing in Sasuke’s chest the longer they laid there in silence. He thought maybe it was anxiety, but it didn’t exactly feel bad. It felt like a bubble, growing bigger and bigger with each passing, frantic thought he had.

What made tonight different from last month, last year, _three years ago_?

Finally, his hands were shaking and it was hard to breath and the bubble popped. _He_ popped.

“Why did you come over tonight?” Sasuke blurted out suddenly. The pressure in his lungs subsided, but was replaced by something new, something he felt before he’d come in the house after school, something he hated feeling every time Itachi came over. Fear.

The grass rustled when Itachi turned his head to look at Sasuke and said, “Like I said, I wanted to stop by and say hi.”

“Bullshit,” Sasuke whispered.

Itachi huffed out a little chuckle. “Fair enough,” he said, “That was enough to appease mom, but not you.”

“So why?” Sasuke asked again, aching to know. To finally have an answer.

Itachi was quiet for a minute, but didn’t take his eyes off Sasuke. Sasuke felt his skin grow warm the longer his brother looked at him, but he didn’t look back. He didn’t want to break whatever spell this was; he didn’t want to be the reason that his brother left.

After a while, Itachi said, “I heard that you’re dating Naruto Uzumaki.”

...What?

Itachi, too?

Sasuke threw his hands into the air. He was angry. Angry and sad. Because this, _this_ , was the reason he was seeing his brother - _being seen_ by his brother - and...it didn’t matter.

“That’s why you’re here? Yes, we’re dating! _Yes_ , I’m gay! Are you happy? If you are, then…” Sasuke let out a long breath until it felt like his lungs were collapsing like the stars up above them. It didn’t matter, he repeated to himself. “Then, I guess you can go...if that’s all you wanted.”

“It isn’t,” Itachi said, “All that I wanted.”

“Then what do you want, Itachi? Why, after all this time, after _three years_ , why are you here? You haven’t seemed to care up to this point, so what’s changed?”

A strange, almost sad smile settled on Itachi’s face as he propped himself up on an elbow, even closer now to Sasuke since he turned onto his side. “Funnily enough, I’ve cared a little too much. Even now. So I guess, that’s why I came tonight. And now that I’m saying it out loud, I’m realizing how selfish I’m being.”

Hesitantly, Sasuke met Itachi’s gaze. He wasn’t as worried about his brother suddenly up and leaving now that he’d said what he did and Itachi was still here. Plus, he was curious, so he decided to take his brother’s bait.

“Fine, I’ll bite,” Sasuke said. “How are you being selfish?”

“How much do you care for Naruto?” Itachi asked, unsurprisingly avoiding the question. His brother was nothing if not an evasive talker.

Sasuke shrugged, “We’ve been friends for...well, a long time. You know, I care for him.”

“How much?”

“I dunno. I mean, I care for him...the right amount? What does it matter?”

“Are you in love with him?” Itachi countered.

Sasuke’s eyes widened. “Woah, I think it’s a little too soon for that. We literally just started dating like two days ago.”

“And yet, you still haven’t told our parents that you’re dating someone,” Itachi said.

Sasuke started to sit up, feeling like this had gone a little too far, too fast, but Itachi put a hand on his chest and held him down gently. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them anything,” Itachi reassured him.

It wasn’t reassuring, but _whatever_.

“Answer my question,” Sasuke said, his voice more stern.

“Then stop avoiding mine. Do you love him?”

“This isn’t about me, Itachi! You’re the one--”

“Do you love him?” Itachi asked again.

Sasuke grunted in frustration. His brother’s hand was warm against his chest and it seeped through his shirt and into his skin. It made that feeling that was and wasn’t anxiety spark and spread to his fingertips. Sasuke pushed Itachi’s hand off him and the feeling faded with the chill of the evening.

“No! Okay, is _that_ what you wanted? Fine! No, I don’t love him! Now would you just answer my damn quest--”

The rest of the statement died on Sasuke’s lips as Itachi closed the distance between them with a kiss.

Sasuke stopped breathing for a moment. His brother’s lips were warm against his, Itachi’s hand was warm where it touched his cheek, his _body_ was warm everywhere that his brother - his brother, his _brother!_ his mind kept trying to remind him - leaned against him.

The kiss was soft and short, too short - _not short enough!_ his mind reprimanded him again - and he had to stop himself from reaching out for Itachi when he pulled away.

“That’s how,” Itachi whispered between them.

"What?" Sasuke said, his head swimming.

"I was answering your question. That's how I'm being selfish," Itachi's voice was still soft and he was just close enough that if Sasuke leaned his head forward just an inch, one tiny little inch, then they’d be kissing again and he’d be warm and his brother would be close to him again.

 _Too close_ , his mind warned.

 _Not close enough_ , his body urged, the definitely not anxiety pulsing through him.

“Do…” Sasuke said quietly.

 _Don’t say it! Don't you dare say it!_ His mind screamed.

“Do what?” Itachi asked.

 _Say it. Ask him. Make him_ , his body pushed. He was almost uncomfortably warm now, and his body felt like it was ready to burst with something. Something he had never felt this strongly before:

Want.

“Do that again.”

And Itachi did. He moved that one, little inch and kissed Sasuke again, not as soft, not as short, not as almost innocent as it had been before. Sasuke returned it, more enthusiastically than he should have, because he obviously _shouldn’t_ have at all.

Then hands were everywhere, grasping at hair then skin then clothes the longer that they kissed, tongues battling. Sasuke wasn’t even sure what he wanted to do when he slid his hand up Itachi’s shirt, but he knew it felt good and he liked how Itachi’s skin felt under his fingers.

They broke apart and Itachi pulled off his shirt and Sasuke looked at him under the dark sky and the faint light from the back porch.

The back porch. Of their parent’s house.

“Itachi, we should…” Sasuke couldn’t actually bring himself to say stop, but he looked back toward the house and he knew that Itachi would understand what he meant.

“They went to bed,” Itachi said, “They’re on the other side of the house. They won’t see us.”

 _Stop. Stop. Stop. While you can still look at yourself in the mirror tomorrow_ , his mind rang out, more quietly than before.

“Are you sure?” Sasuke asked.

In answer, Itachi shifted and straddled Sasuke before he kissed him again, drawing a moan out of Sasuke as he felt the comforting weight of his brother on top of him. His fingers felt their way up Itachi’s pale skin again, tracing the muscles and lines of his body until his arms were wrapped around Itachi completely and pulling him down closer. Pressing them together in ways that Sasuke shouldn’t have enjoyed as much as he did.

Itachi moved away from Sasuke with a satisfied smirk on his face when Sasuke groaned out and tried to pull him close again. He gently grabbed Sasuke’s arms and pinned his wrists down against the dewy grass above his head with one hand while the other traveled down, drawing invisible lines down Sasuke’s neck, over his, regrettably, not naked chest. Sasuke gasped and arched his back when Itachi’s hand brushed only almost gently against his straining pants.

“Itachi,” he panted softly. “Itachi.”

“Tell me what you want,” he whispered against Sasuke’s ear.

 _You can still turn back. You can still say no._ The voice in his head buzzed, so quiet now that Sasuke didn’t even give it a passing thought.

“Please, touch me.”

Itachi didn’t waste any more time. He undid Sasuke’s pants and pulled out his aching cock, smearing the pre-come that beaded at the tip over the head before wrapping his hand around it firmly. That alone caused Sasuke’s hips to buck trying to get more contact, more friction, more of his brother and that devilish hand. Itachi was quick to oblige his brother and pumped Sasuke’s cock, once then twice, in long, slow strokes.

“Itachi,” Sasuke moaned out, straining against the hand that still held him down.

“Patience, brother,” Itachi teased. Sasuke groaned and his cock twitched at how erotic that sounded coming out of Itachi’s mouth. How wrong, but good, but _right_. And he wanted more.

“A-again,” Sasuke whimpered out.

“Again what?” Itachi tortured him with another slow stroke, squeezing more firmly as he dragged his hand up the shaft.

Sasuke’s eyes closed and his head tilted back, exposing his neck. Itachi took advantage and started kissing at his pulse, nipping and sucking softly every few moments.

“Tell me,” Itachi murmured against Sasuke’s skin with a smirk, “What do you want me to do, brother?”

His cock twitched again and Sasuke knew immediately that Itachi knew what he was doing to him. And he seemed to like it as much as Sasuke did. Sasuke moaned again, louder, hoping vaguely that their parents wouldn’t hear them, but not really caring.

“Please,” Sasuke whispered, his voice hoarse from pleasure. “Make me feel good… Make me _come_.”

Itachi finally let go of Sasuke’s wrists and kissed him again, the hand on his cock thankfully, _finally_ moving, stroking him faster, squeezing gently on every up stroke. Sasuke couldn’t stop the moans that poured out of him now, his pleasure mounting. He thrust his hips to match Itachi’s strokes as much as he could with his brother still hovering above him. He was getting close. So close, so close.

“Itachi!” he groaned against his brother’s lips as he came, arching his back and shooting string after string of sticky, hot come all over himself and Itachi’s hand. Itachi groaned back in response to his brother’s release as he milked everything out of Sasuke that he could before finally pulling himself away from the sated younger man.

Itachi settled back down next to Sasuke on the grass and looked at him in satisfaction. Sasuke’s gaze was a little hazy and his movements slow, but he turned onto his side to look at Itachi better. He didn’t know if he would wake up and regret all this later, but while he was enjoying himself, he figured that Itachi should as well and he reached across the space between them and settled his shaky fingers against the button of Itachi’s pants.

“You don’t need to do that,” Itachi said quietly, pulling Sasuke’s hand gently away from his pants and painfully obvious erection.

Sasuke shook his brother’s hand off of his and grabbed at his pants again, undoing them, “Oh, yes I do, _especially_ after that.”

Itachi didn’t argue further, instead he helped guide Sasuke’s hand into his pants and wrapped his hand around Sasuke’s on his leaking cock. Had he not been satisfied and a little sleepy, Sasuke would have argued that he could do this by himself, but he let Itachi lead him and show him what he liked.

Itachi hit his release quickly, Sasuke watching him and the way that his own name formed silently on his brother’s lips over and over again. He liked it. Liked it a dangerous amount. Liked it in a way he could get addicted to, if he wasn’t already.

“Itachi?” Sasuke whispered. They’d cleaned themselves up as much as they could and had been laying on the grass in each others arms for the last hour, soundlessly enjoying each other and exchanging soft, sweet kisses every now and then.

“Yes, Sasuke?”

“We should probably go inside soon…” He didn’t want to, but he was sticky and colder than Itachi’s body heat could help.

“Yes, I guess I should go.”

Sasuke’s heart thudded painfully in his chest at the words. Go. He was going to just leave again? How long would he be gone this time? Even after all of _this_ , would Itachi even bother to come back?

He squeezed Itachi’s arm that was draped across his stomach and leaned up to kiss him desperately, asking - _begging_ \- for Itachi to stay.

“You don’t _have_ to go,” Sasuke suggested. “I can...make up the guest bedroom for you?”

Itachi laughed, running a hand through Sasuke’s hair gently. “I don’t think I’d be able to control myself if I stayed.”

“You wouldn’t have to.”

“Still, I think it’s best I go home. Let you get some rest before school tomorrow.”

Sasuke’s nails dug into Itachi’s arm just slightly when he pulled away and sat up. “So this was it?”

Itachi looked back at Sasuke questioningly, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Sasuke started, sitting up, “is this it? After three years, I finally see you… You _see me_ , and we do… And now you’re just going to leave? And then I’m not going to see you again?”

Itachi frowned slightly then lifted both his hands to Sasuke’s cheeks. He pulled Sasuke in for a deep kiss and when they parted he said, “You’ll see me again. I promise. You’ll see me tomorrow.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, “Yeah, at school, where you don’t ever talk to me.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Itachi mumbled to himself, reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out a small key ring. He flipped through the few keys on there, squinting in the faint light. “Ah!” he exclaimed, pulling a key off the ring before handing it to Sasuke.

“That’s my spare key,” Itachi said, “To _my_ house,” he felt he needed to add.

Sasuke looked down at the key skeptically. “So what does this mean?”

Itachi laughed, a hearty, happy laugh. Sasuke hadn’t heard it in so long that he’d forgotten that Itachi used to laugh like this all the time. Itachi stood up and then pulled Sasuke up off the ground as well. He kissed Sasuke on the head.

“It _means_ that you’re welcome any time. Day,” he paused and looked Sasuke in the eyes knowingly, “Or night. If that’s something that you want, but only if you want it.”

 _I do_ , Sasuke thought.

“Then what does _this_ mean?” Sasuke asked, gesturing between them and the ground where they’d been preoccupied before.

“This means…” Itachi paused, seeming to think something over. He kissed Sasuke one more time, soft, chaste, with _meaning_. “That I love you, and I want you to tell me what it means to you.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer. Itachi put a finger to his lips though.

“But tell me when you’re ready, when you’ve had time to think about it,” Itachi huffed out a little laugh and looked him over, adding, “When you’ve had time to shower.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Itachi, but nodded. After all, he couldn’t really argue with his brother’s logic. Whatever had happened here tonight, it was strange, it was new. It was supposed to be wrong. Supposed to be, but Sasuke didn’t feel that way, and that scared him in its own way.

“Okay,” he agreed. “As long as I can still see you.”

“I promise,” Itachi assured him, taking Sasuke’s hand in his to give it a brief squeeze. “Now, go inside and get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Sasuke repeated, reluctantly letting go of Itachi’s hand to walk back inside, while Itachi went through the back gate to get to the front of the house and his car.

Once Sasuke was in his room and starting to feel warmth flood back into his bones, he grabbed his phone on his way to his closet to change clothes. He’d shower in the morning, he decided. His phone vibrated when he picked it up and he saw a message from Sakura from a couple of hours ago.

_“I know you had to have found out more. So, you’ve gotta spill what happened! It’s definitely more than just ‘I came by to say hi’!”_

Sasuke laughed to himself and tossed his phone onto his bed and put Itachi’s house key on his dresser. He’d figure out something to tell Sakura in the morning when he saw her, but boy, how right she was.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Sasuke grabbed his phone the next morning, he had a text.

_“Good morning, Sasuke.”_

He held his breath as he read the three words over and over again. Itachi’s name in bold print in the contact line.

So it hadn’t been a dream.

His body had known that already. His back was aching from having laid on the ground so long and his joints hurt from being out in the cold, but now, seeing the text, his mind was in agreement.

It hadn’t been a dream and Itachi _had kept his promise_.

Sasuke kept reading the message over as he laid in bed, trying to figure out what he should say. What did someone say in a situation like this? Who else would even _be_ in a situation like this? Oh, man, that brought some thoughts to Sasuke’s mind that he really didn’t want to have about his classmates and their families.

He shook his head and tried a few times to type out a reply, but everything he tried to say sounded ridiculous. Finally, he just settled on saying good morning in reply before he started to get out of bed.

Itachi must have had his phone in his hand, waiting - Sasuke thought wistfully - for a reply, because Sasuke’s phone buzzed with another message before he even put it back down.

_“Did you want a ride to school today? I can come by and pick you up.”_

_“No, thanks. I promised Sakura that I’d walk with her this morning.”_

Okay, that was a lie. At least until he texted Sakura and asked if she wanted to walk with him to school, which she agreed to immediately.

It wasn’t that he _didn’t_ want to take Itachi up on his offer, but he fell back onto the thought of _what the hell was he supposed to say?_

He didn’t regret what happened last night, even though he understood that he probably should, but it had felt good and _right_ and they’d both been consenting, so why was he supposed to feel bad about that?

 _Because you’re related_ , that stupid voice in his head was chiming back in this morning. Sasuke shook the thought away and got up to get ready for school. He’d figure out something to say to Itachi later.

“Okay, you’ve gotta tell me what happened last night,” Sakura said the moment that Sasuke walked out his front door. He smiled at her and shook his head as they started down the road.

“I told you, it was nothing. He just came over to talk.”

“How much talking did you two actually do?”

Memories of Itachi’s lips on him popped like sparklers in his mind, and Sasuke said with a smile, “More than you’d think.”

Sakura nodded, “I’m impressed. I mean, I would have thought that after all that time, Itachi would have some ulterior motive, but I’m really glad you guys were able to start connecting again. You weren’t too mad at him, were you? Did he even give you a reason that he’s been MIA so long?”

Sasuke shrugged noncommittally, “Yes, and no, but I’m just...glad that he’s back. I mean, he even asked if I wanted a ride to school this morning.”

“So thaaat’s why you asked me to walk with you!” Sakura exclaimed, looking over at him with a grin.

“No,” Sasuke denied. “I asked you because you’re my friend and… Okay, stop with the look,” he finally said, pushing her playfully away from him. “Yeah, fine, that’s why I asked. Last night was great and all, but I have no idea what I would say to him now.”

“Maybe you guys should just start with getting to know each other again?” Sakura suggested. “I mean, it’s been three years and, if I can say so, Sasuke, you’ve definitely changed over that time. I mean, I remember how moody you used to be.”

They stopped outside of the gates to the school and Sasuke gave her a withering look. “Like you were any better.”

“I never said I was,” Sakura admitted before she headed inside the gates with a wave. She turned back and shouted to him, “But you were definitely worse!”

Sasuke shook his head and started to pull his phone out of his pocket to text Itachi, when a hand slipped into his and then lips were on his cheek in a quick kiss before Sasuke even had time to react.

“Good morning, Sasuke!” Naruto chimed at him.

Sasuke’s heart fell into his stomach and then knotted and sat there like a heavy stone. He hadn’t thought yet about Naruto, about what he would do or how he would talk with him. How were you supposed to break up with someone anyway? Especially when you'd only been dating for three days?

“Morning,” Sasuke managed, trying to keep himself from pulling his hand away from Naruto as the blond pulled him up toward the school, chatting aimlessly about quizzes and classes.

Once they were walking the halls though, Sasuke had to let go and so slipped his hand away under the guise of grabbing his phone to check it. People were staring at them, and while it hadn’t bothered him yesterday, today Sasuke felt like a different person and the judging stares and quiet whispers about the two of them were too much to take.

Sasuke was surprised to see another message from his brother when he looked down at his phone very exaggeratedly, so he could make sure that Naruto didn't think he'd pulled away from him for any other reason. The knot in his stomach tightened, but excitement rushed through him briefly as he opened the message.

_“If you’re free today, did you want to come over later?”_

Sasuke hesitated, desperately wanting to just say yes. Maybe he could even leave now and just hide out at Itachi’s place until his brother got home. Or maybe, _maybe_ , Sasuke thought hopefully, he could convince his brother to skip work too and they could spend the day together.

“Oh, who messaged you?” Naruto asked, trying to lean over and look at Sasuke’s phone while his fingers hovered over the glass screen, ready to beg his brother to take him home so he could forget about today and what he needed to do.

“Huh?” Sasuke said quickly, pressing a button on the side of his phone to black out the screen before he slipped it back into his pocket, message unwritten and unsent. “Oh, no one. Just, uh, family stuff.”

Naruto nodded knowingly as they walked into their first period class together: math. With the most useless teacher in the world, in Sasuke’s opinion at least, Kakashi Hatake, a man who would rather read softcore porn openly during class than actually try and teach them anything. That was, when he even showed up.

“Is everything okay at home?” Naruto asked and Sasuke nodded without a word as he took his normal seat next to Naruto. He wished he could be anywhere else than right next to the other boy’s side.

Naruto hummed, but if he was concerned about Sasuke’s behavior, he - thankfully - didn’t say anything about it as he started working on some homework Sasuke was sure had been piling up for him over the last few days. Out of the two of them and Sakura, Naruto was the absolute worst with his classwork, especially when he had to take anything home to work on. Sasuke’s lip turned upward slightly as he thought of one of the myriad of lectures Sakura had given Naruto on getting his work done on time.

The three of them used to be so close…

Best friends.

After today, would Sasuke even be able to count on Naruto as a regular friend?

“Hey,” Naruto’s voice broke into his thoughts again. “Did you want to go out after school? I thought maybe we could go get something to eat and then go catch that movie we missed the other day?”

Naruto’s cheeks tinged pink when he brought up the other day. The knot contorted again in Sasuke’s stomach.

“Yeah…” Sasuke said quietly, resigned to what he knew he would have to do in a few hours. “Whatever you want, Naruto.”

As Naruto flashed him a smile, Sasuke pulled his phone out and angled it slightly away from Naruto so he could type out a quick message to Itachi.

_“Sorry, not today. I’ve got something to do after school.”_

Aside from Ayame and Teuchi, they were alone at Ichiraku when they got there, which really just made it worse. Because not only was he about to break up with Naruto, he was going to do it at his favorite place and didn’t even have the privacy that a moment like this probably needed. The knot had steadily moved from his stomach to his chest the closer he’d gotten to the end of the day and now it was restricting tightly, making Sasuke feel like he couldn’t breathe.

He harshly debated getting up and leaving until Teuchi sat their ramen down in front of them. It felt like a nail in a coffin, keeping him stuck in place until he did what he knew he had to do.

Sasuke took as deep a breath that he could manage and swallowed thickly. The knot was still moving steadily upward, lodging itself directly in his throat. He could do this. He could definitely do this. Naruto was his friend first, before everything else, he had to remind himself. Naruto was understanding. Maybe not like “I think I’m gonna start sleeping with my brother” understanding, but possibly, “I made a mistake about us and I’m sorry” understanding. Or at least he hoped.

“Are you alright, Sasuke?” Naruto said from beside him when Sasuke opened his mouth to start talking--to start explaining and apologizing. “You haven’t touched your food and Ayame is starting to give you _the look_.”

Sasuke glanced up at Ayame and indeed she was. Her eyes were narrowed and lips pursed while she kept looking from him to his ramen and back. Sasuke broke his chopsticks apart, hoping that would assuage her, but he still didn’t eat.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Naruto,” he said quietly. “I’ve just got...things on my mind.”

 _Count to three and then just do it_ , he commanded himself.

_One._

“Mmm,” Naruto hummed as he finished swallowing, “What things?”

_Two._

“It’s…” Sasuke paused. It should have been easy. _It’s about you and me_ , was all he had to say. Then the scariest part would be over, well aside from the actual break up, but just bringing the conversation up was proving to be enough of a challenge on its own.

_Thr--_

“Oh! It’s about Itachi, isn’t it?” Naruto said.

Sasuke’s stomach flip-flopped at that and he widened his eyes, his count completely gone and forgotten from his mind. _What_ had Naruto just asked him? “You… You know about that? How did you find out?”

Naruto waved his chopsticks around vaguely and said, “Sakura told me. She texted me after school yesterday and let me know.” He started laughing and added, “She also told me that I should have come to her for advice on how to ask you out.”

Sasuke swallowed and tried to remind himself to breathe. Naruto didn’t know. Naruto _couldn’t_ know. No one had been there last night, he told himself, and if Naruto _did_ know anything about it, then...well, again, Naruto probably wasn’t going to be _that_ understanding.

“So what happened with your brother?” Naruto asked, finishing his ramen and turning to look at Sasuke. “Woah, I’m assuming it wasn’t good from the look on your face.”

“No,” Sasuke said. He felt queasy, but tried for a smile so maybe he didn’t look so nervous. He didn’t know if it helped or not, since his vision was a little swimmy and he couldn’t really focus on Naruto’s reaction. He started to count again.

_One._

“No, it went...great, really. He even asked if I wanted to come and see him today.”

_Two._

“And you’re here with me instead?” Naruto asked. “You should go and see him!”

Sasuke shook his head, repeating _Three!_ over and over again like a chant. “No, it’s okay. Anyway, I really--”

“You’ve barely spoken to your brother in three years, Sasuke! You talk to me every day, and we can go out tomorrow instead. I _want_ you to go and spend time with Itachi.”

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, his brain screaming at him to just tell Naruto the truth, _but_ … he tried to reason back, Naruto had given him a way out. Had given his permission for Sasuke to leave, so that meant it was okay to just do this tomorrow instead, right?

 _Not at all_ , his brain reprimanded him, but the knot in his throat was easing at the opportunity provided to him. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t _right_ to just leave and put it off, but...

“Are you sure?” he asked Naruto, hoping that the blond wouldn’t change his mind.

Naruto smiled and leaned over to kiss Sasuke. On autopilot, Sasuke kissed him back, trying to ignore the guilt that was crawling up his throat to replace the lump from moments ago. Ayame was squealing behind the counter when they pulled apart from one another, and Naruto was blushing.

“Okay, the ramen’s on the house today, Naruto!” Ayame said. “I didn’t realize that you two were on a _date_!”

Naruto’s eyes lit up. “I could almost kiss you, too, Ayame!” he shouted before ordering another bowl of ramen. He turned back to Sasuke and said, “I promise, I’m good here. You go and spend some time with Itachi. Just text me later.”

“I will,” Sasuke said. He stood up and had to stop himself from running out of Ichiraku. He texted his brother as soon as he was sure he was out of Naruto’s sight.

_“Change of plans. I’m heading over.”_

_“Alright. I’m at the store, so if you beat me back, you know you can let yourself in.”_

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief when he got to Itachi’s house and saw that he did beat Itachi there. Even though he’d been able to get out of talking to Naruto, Sasuke’s nervousness hadn’t completely left him. His head was still running rampant with thoughts of just what he would say or do when he saw Itachi again.

Obviously, this was pretty uncharted territory for the both of them, but was he supposed to do what he wanted and kiss Itachi when he saw him again? Or were they acting like last night hadn’t happened? Sasuke hoped not, because that’d sure be awkward for his entire visit, but it wasn’t like there was any kind of instructions on how to go about the correct way to having a relationship with your sibling.

He went up to the front door and fished his keys out of his backpack and grabbed the spare key Itachi had given him. Sasuke held his breath as he opened the door, not knowing what to expect inside. After all, Sasuke hadn’t been to Itachi’s house even once since Itachi moved out, but he’d often wondered what it would be like and how his brother liked living alone.

Was he lonely?

When Sasuke was pushed open the door and went inside, he was more or less unsurprised to find how empty the house was. Itachi’s room at their parents house had been much the same, with everything in a certain place.

He took his shoes off and then looked around the kitchen that was to the immediate left of the doorway. He opened cabinets and saw plates and glasses and food stuffs all meticulously placed, labels facing out and cans and boxes lined up neatly.

The living room was sparsely decorated with just a small couch and a little chair by the window to Sasuke’s right and to the left was a hallway that led to three different rooms. Two bedrooms and a bathroom, Sasuke found out by peeking his head in each room. Itachi’s bedroom and bathroom looked as immaculate as the rest of his house, but the spare room, which Sasuke could only assume was Itachi’s office, was littered with stacks of papers, a couple cups full of pens and markers and had a large monitor with a keyboard and mouse on the lone desk in the room. Nowhere near as orderly as the rest of the house.

Sasuke couldn’t help but smirk triumphantly. Itachi wasn’t perfect after all, he couldn’t help but think. Although he still seemed damned close to it.

When Sasuke finished exploring, he decided to just sit on the couch and wait for Itachi to get home, which he thankfully didn’t have to wait long for. About 10 minutes after he got comfortable on the couch and started flipping aimlessly through channels on the tv, the lock turned in the door and Sasuke jumped up, both embarrassed to be seen just lounging around Itachi’s house and nervous to see his brother.

Itachi pushed his front door open with his foot and smiled when he saw Sasuke inside. He had a bag in each arm and put them on a counter in the kitchen after toeing off his shoes as Sasuke walked over and closed the door for his brother.

Itachi turned around and he and Sasuke looked at each other for a moment, neither of them moving, both waiting on the other.

“I’m glad that you came,” Itachi finally said.

“Me too,” Sasuke replied. He tried not to listen to the dozens of thoughts buzzing in his head that asked what he should do.

Before the silence could stretch again, Itachi moved over to Sasuke and took him into his arms. Sasuke melted into the embrace and felt some of his tension easing; some of the rattling questions started to slip away. So they weren’t completely back to the way things had been prior to last night, at least, but how far were they going to take things now?

Itachi pulled away a couple of inches and rested an index finger under Sasuke’s chin gently, then moved to caress his cheek, looking into Sasuke’s eyes like he was searching for something.

“Is it okay if I kiss you, Sasuke?” Itachi asked.

Sasuke’s eyes widened just a fraction; he hadn’t been expecting to be asked for permission.

"Unless that's not something you want," Itachi said at the look. "I guess I misread... Well, I had just thought..." Itachi trailed off and dropped his hand.

Suddenly, Sasuke realized how his reaction probably came across and fear spiked in his chest as his brother started to pull away from him completely. He grabbed the front of Itachi’s shirt with one hand to stop him from moving further away and snaked his other over Itachi’s shoulder slowly as he pulled his brother to him and connected their lips in a sweet, soft, aching kiss.

Itachi kissed him back, not as soft, not as sweet, but it was needy. His brother needed him, _wanted_ him and Sasuke moaned at the thought. Itachi pushed Sasuke backward slowly until his back was pressed up against the wall. When they broke apart, Sasuke titled his head to the side and Itachi took the invitation to kiss down his brother’s neck slowly.

Sasuke wondered if Itachi felt how wild his pulse was racing--wondered if he could feel the heat and urgency that ran through Sasuke’s blood. If not, Sasuke made sure that he did, pressing himself as close to Itachi as he could manage, gasping and then sighing softly as his straining erection pressed gently against Itachi’s leg.

Itachi moved back up to look Sasuke in the eyes with a satisfied smile on his face.

“There will be time for that later,” he whispered between them, distant enough so that their lips only brushed together every other word.

Sasuke whined, the sound surprising himself, but not in a way that mattered much in this moment. Maybe later he’d be embarrassed, but right now he wanted Itachi and didn’t care how wanton he sounded about it.

“Please, Itachi,” Sasuke sighed, grabbing one of his brother’s wrists and guiding Itachi’s hand down to the front of his pants.

Itachi laughed, low and soft as he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Sasuke’s. He touched Sasuke teasingly through his pants, putting just enough pressure to make Sasuke’s breath hitch and leaving him wanting more, but nothing past that.

“I want to touch you, Sasuke,” Itachi admitted, his eyes still closed and hand still teasing, “I never want to stop.”

“Then don’t,” Sasuke said, his eyelashes fluttered as Itachi applied the smallest amount of pressure with his hand. He reached down and rubbed Itachi through his pants, too. They gasped together as they felt one another almost more intimately than last night.

Just as quickly as it had started though, Itachi detached himself, leaving Sasuke to sigh loudly, making sure his brother knew just how discontented he was. Sasuke tried to step toward Itachi and reinitiate their contact, because why would his brother move away? It was obvious, _painfully_ so, that they both wanted this. So why did he stop? Why was he still moving away from him?

“I want _this_ ,” Itachi motioned to the space between them, “to mean something to you. To be _more_ than just a sinful stolen moment here and there,” Itachi answered Sasuke’s unspoken question.

“It does, it is,” Sasuke answered. His body was still trying to urge him forward again, but Sasuke fought it as he understood what Itachi meant. “It means… It means _so much_ to be here with you. To _be with you_.”

Itachi smiled again. It was soft and almost shy and Sasuke was amazed by it, amazed because his brother never seemed unsure of anything, but here Itachi was, almost - if Sasuke dared to even _think_ it - hesitant to move too fast, to do something that would chase him away. The thought warmed Sasuke’s heart and made him smile too. After a lifetime of vying to be as confident as Itachi, to be sure of absolutely everything, it was...what? Was nice the word for it? No, not nice; it was _comforting_ to know that his brother had worries too.

“I’ll give you what you want, Sasuke,” Itachi said, “Whatever you want; whenever you want it. I promise you that, but please, just indulge me tonight. Have dinner with me, have a moment with me. Just the two of us together, not just brothers, but something so much more.”

Sasuke couldn’t help himself from stepping forward at that and matching his lips to Itachi’s. The kiss was chaste, not searching, not needing, not anything more than what it was. A kiss, a moment in which Sasuke wanted Itachi to begin to understand how much he was cared for. How much Sasuke would be willing to do for him.

When he pulled away, Sasuke brushed his fingers against Itachi's neck and murmured a quiet, “Well then, what’s for dinner?”

After dinner, they laid on Itachi’s couch, Itachi sitting up and leaning against the arm of the couch with Sasuke laying against him with his feet tucked up beside him. The tv was on, but they hadn’t been paying attention to whatever was on. Sasuke couldn’t when Itachi’s fingers kept running through his hair, nails grazing so softly against his scalp. Sasuke worried vaguely in the back of his mind that he would fall asleep if Itachi didn’t stop that soon, but he didn’t try to stop him.

Itachi had seemed so happy since they’d started cooking dinner together, and when they’d sat down at the little, two person table that Itachi had in his dining area, they had actually talked. Not just small talk or the shallow, idle chit chat that Sasuke had constantly heard when Itachi would visit and talk with their parents, but actual conversation.

It was like they were getting to know one another all over again, and in a way, Sasuke mused to himself as he closed his eyes, they were. He wouldn’t tell Sakura that she’d been right about it; he knew it’d go to her head, but he felt like he at least owed her his thanks, even if it was silent.

A few of the things he’d learned about Itachi tonight had surprised him. Like that he’d traveled for a few months, and had nearly moved out of the village completely before he took the teaching position at Sasuke’s school. How had he missed that? How had Sasuke not known? 

Well, Sasuke mused, he probably would have known if he’d actually listened when Itachi talked with their mother, but he readily admitted that he’d had other things on his mind during those visits. Namely, why Itachi had decided to leave home in the first place, something he still didn’t have an answer to.

Thinking of it…

“Why _did_ you leave?” Sasuke asked.

“Leave?” Itachi questioned in return. Sasuke nudged Itachi’s hip with his elbow and made a noise in the back of his throat.

“Don’t do that. You didn’t answer me earlier, either. So answer me now; why did you leave home?”

Sasuke felt Itachi shift against him and wondered briefly if he was going to push Sasuke away so he could get up and do anything to change the subject. Itachi didn’t and Sasuke was relieved, but he could still feel the way his brother’s body had tensed in his fingers; noticed the way Itachi’s foot started tapping gently against the carpeted floor.

“I…” Itachi said, but he didn’t go any further. Sasuke frowned; it definitely wasn’t like Itachi to stammer, to stumble over anything he had to say. It worried Sasuke.

“What is it? Did something happen?” Sasuke asked, trying to keep his voice soft and reassuring so Itachi would know that he could talk to him. If they were going to be...whatever they were heading toward, they needed to talk to each other.

“Yes, and no,” Itachi answered.

“Okaaaay,” Sasuke said. He finally sat up and turned to face Itachi better, one leg tucked close against his body and the other hanging over the side so his foot was on the floor. “Do you care to elaborate? And when I say, “do you care to,” I mean, “you’ve definitely got to.””

Itachi breathed out a laugh and Sasuke saw his face soften a little. That was a good sign, right?

“I started to notice my feelings for you,” Itachi admitted.

“Okay, I can’t say that I’m surprised that’s the reason, but you stayed away so long. You wouldn’t talk to me, would barely even give me the time of day.”

“I thought it would be best if I kept my distance,” Itachi explained. “I thought, if I did, that maybe whatever feelings I had would dissipate.”

Sasuke nodded and said, “Because that _definitely_ worked.”

“Clearly.”

“Then what changed? After three years… What could have changed your mind?”

Itachi shook his head, his eyes unfocused but trained on the commercial on the tv. “It’s ridiculous, really.”

“Well now I have to know!” Sasuke said, hoping Itachi would hear that he wasn’t mad. Wasn’t expecting anything other than an answer from him. No matter what that answer was.

Itachi shrugged as nonchalantly as he could in the situation. Sasuke commended him on it. “Because you started dating Naruto Uzumaki.”

Sasuke wasn’t stupid. He had suspected that Itachi’s sudden reappearance had something to do with the news that he and Naruto had started dating - _are still dating!_ his brain reminded him in a sharp, painful thought - but he’d wanted to hear it himself.

Even after Itachi said it though, Sasuke sat slightly dumbfounded.

His brother had been _jealous_.

Of _Naruto_.

“I--”

“Don’t ask me why,” Itachi interrupted, waving away whatever Sasuke was going to say. “Because as soon as I got home last night I was...shocked at what I’d done. Not that I regret it, mind you, because I don’t, Sasuke.” Itachi turned his gaze to Sasuke and looked him in the eyes seriously. “I don’t regret for a moment what happened. I just couldn’t believe I’d _actually_ done it.”

A warm feeling flooded through Sasuke’s chest at Itachi’s affirmation, but he still wrinkled his brow in question. “Why? It wasn’t like I was, you know...unwilling or anything.”

Itachi reached for one of Sasuke’s hands and held it in both of his own, stroking his fingers gently over the soft, sensitive skin on the back of his hand, then his wrist, tracing over the blue veins he could see under his skin.

“Because it was what I’d been afraid of: losing control around you. That was why I left in the first place, so that you could live your life, unburdened by me. I’d hoped that you’d never know how I feel for you. I’d hoped that _if_ you ever did find out, that you’d push me away. Maybe then…” Itachi stopped himself and took a breath before he continued with a small shake of his head, “Maybe then the feelings would go away. I never even thought, never dared to _hope_ that you’d--”

Sasuke put his hand gently on the back of Itachi’s neck and drew him toward him, into a kiss that quieted his brother’s rambling. It didn’t fit well with his ever confident personality, his all knowing and calculated ways of thinking. Itachi kissed him back, gently squeezing the hand that he still held.

The kiss was quick and when Sasuke pulled away he ghosted his fingers along Itachi’s jaw and looked his brother in the eye.

“But I do, Itachi,” Sasuke said. “I do and I’m yours… If you’ll have me.”

There was a beat. A single beat of Sasuke’s heart where he worried that Itachi maybe wouldn’t have him. Where he worried that he’d maybe over stepped and misread, but then Itachi stood up, pulling Sasuke with him to lead him down the hall and into his bedroom.

The room was lit in reds and oranges from the setting sun, and if Sasuke had been less focused on Itachi, he probably would have noted aloud how pretty it was. But he didn’t, even as Itachi pushed him down gently to sit on the bed.

No, he couldn’t, not when Itachi started to undress in front of him. Pulling his shirt off slowly and revealing the expanse of pale skin that he hadn’t been able to properly enjoy the night before, not when it’d been so dark. Now though, oh now, Sasuke could see his brother. Could study the way the pretty red sunset seemed to make Itachi’s skin glow, the way his muscles moved so fluidly with every shift and breath, the way Itachi trailed his own fingers down his skin and took Sasuke’s gaze down with it.

He was mesmerizing.

“You’re beautiful…” Sasuke breathed.

Itachi gave him a look that was knowing and appreciative as he reached down to undo his own pants. Sasuke reached forward and stopped him, pushing Itachi’s fingers away to replace them with his own, teasing his brother’s renewing arousal as he unbuttoned his pants, stopping short of unzipping the fly.

Sasuke pulled Itachi just the slightest bit closer to where he sat on the bed by the belt loop of his pants. He studied the growing bulge in his brother’s pants that was nearly at eye level, imagining that he could see it throbbing, that he could feel the heat emanating from it and Sasuke wanted nothing more in that moment than to show Itachi just how much he cared for him. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against the cloth that still shielded Itachi’s erection; his brother sighed and threaded a hand through Sasuke’s hair.

“Sasuke,” Itachi groaned quietly as Sasuke worked his lips down the shaft and then back up, slowly, deliberately, and then he stopped at the growing wet spot on Itachi’s pants. He pressed his tongue to the spot and enjoyed the taste of his brother. It was strange, in so much that it wasn’t strange at all; in fact, it was almost exactly what he’d been expecting. Strong, salty, but completely _Itachi_.

“Sasuke,” Itachi’s fingers tightened in his hair, pulling but not hurting. “If you’re going to, then please, _please_ do it.”

Onyx eyes trailed up Itachi’s exposed torso and Sasuke felt a surge of arousal pound through him when he met Itachi’s eyes, half lidded behind long lashes and looking at him almost desperately.

Who was he to deny his brother?

Quickly, Sasuke unzipped Itachi’s pants and pulled his brother’s cock out, marveling for a moment at it. Again, it wasn’t something he hadn’t seen as well as he’d wanted the night before, but now it was right in front of him. He could smell the arousal from Itachi, wanted to savor the feel of it all in his hand, but his brother _needed_ him, so Sasuke wouldn’t make him wait any longer. He stroked Itachi’s cock once, feeling a shudder run through his brother’s entire body and then he brought the hard length to his mouth.

His tongue dipped into the slit and tasted more of the pre-come beading there. It tasted stronger now, and Sasuke found himself wanting more of it. He wrapped his lips around the head and sucked experimentally. Itachi gasped and his hips bucked just slightly, pushing more of his cock into Sasuke’s waiting mouth. He took in as much as he could and wrapped his hand around the rest, squeezing gently as he sucked before pulling his mouth off Itachi’s arousal with a wet pop.

Itachi was panting and his other hand had found his way into Sasuke’s hair. Sasuke could feel that Itachi was trying to guide him back, urging him to put his mouth back to work because he needed it. Needed _Sasuke_ , but he didn’t push too much, did little more than hope and encourage.

“Show me what you want, Itachi,” Sasuke whispered, biting his lip as he looked up at his brother again.

“Sasuke--” Itachi tried to argue, as much as he could right now, but Sasuke wasn’t having it. He wanted his brother to take control. To take what he wanted like he had last night when he’d kissed him.

“Please, Itachi,” Sasuke begged, “ _I_ want this.”

Apparently, that was all the encouragement that Itachi needed. He groaned at Sasuke’s statement and then guided him a little more forcefully back onto his cock, his fingers twisting just a little harder as he pulled him back and then settled into a rhythm with his thrusts.

Sasuke moaned in enjoyment as he licked and sucked what he could manage of Itachi’s shaft and quickly undid his own pants, unable to stand how turned on he was and unwilling to wait for his brother to finish.

Matching the pace that Itachi set, Sasuke pleasured himself, imagining what he must look like, drooling and needy with his mouth full of his own brother’s cock. Being used and utterly enjoying it. His erection twitched almost violently in his hand at the thought and Sasuke gasped around Itachi’s cock, giving his brother the opportunity to push further into his mouth until Sasuke’s throat was full and he was gagging, his throat contracting over and over again.

“Fuck! Sas-uke,” Itachi’s voice cracked at the new, tortuous sensation and he held Sasuke there for a long moment while he thrust his hips quickly and shallowly, enjoying the hot, wet mouth that completely sheathed him. It only took a few short thrusts before Itachi was coming down Sasuke’s throat. Sasuke fought to breathe and then to swallow, but Itachi pulled out before he was completely finished.

Looking down at Sasuke, Itachi grabbed his own cock and gave it a few final strokes, milking his orgasm as long as he could and shooting the last of his seed onto Sasuke’s chin, neck and shirt.

Sasuke moaned, watching his brother pleasure himself in front of him as he panted to catch his breath. As the ropes of hot, sticky come hit him, Sasuke started stroking himself again, quickly following Itachi’s release.

Many minutes later, Itachi was lying with Sasuke on the bed. He’d taken Sasuke’s shirt and cleaned them both up, leaving Sasuke shirtless, not that either of them were complaining about it.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Itachi finally asked, looking over at Sasuke.

Sasuke was lying on his side, tracing little patterns with his fingers on Itachi’s chest, following small lines of scars here and then and trying to connect them to one another. He stopped at Itachi’s question and looked back at him with a grin, “Are you kidding me? That was great.”

Itachi breathed out a sigh of relief and Sasuke turned onto his stomach so he could look at Itachi a little better. “Itachi,” he started, “You didn’t do anything I didn’t ask for.”

“I mean, you didn’t _ask_ for me to--”

“Shove your cock down my throat?” Sasuke finished his sentence, “No, but I’m not complaining about it. Do you see me complaining?”

“No,” Itachi sighed again. “But--”

“No. Shush. You promised me earlier. Whatever I wanted. I wanted it, Itachi. I could have pushed you away if I really wanted to, but I didn’t. Anyway, I know you’d never hurt me, so I don’t have anything to worry about.”

Itachi was silent for a moment. “You’ll tell me though, won’t you? If I do ever hurt you, I mean?”

Sasuke flopped back onto his side, but not without pressing a kiss to Itachi’s chest. “I promise,” he said.

They were still laying there, neither too keen to get up when Sasuke’s phone rang. Sighing, Sasuke reached into his pocket and fished his phone out, cursing under his breath when he saw _“Mom”_ on the screen.

“Hi mom,” he answered.

“Where are you? It’s past your curfew; are you okay?” Mikoto asked frantically on the other end.

“I’m fine, mom. I’m sorry I forgot to tell you, but I went over to Itachi’s place after school.”

“You’re at your brother’s?” Mikoto questioned. She sounded a little less panicked, but slightly skeptical.

Sasuke held the phone near Itachi long enough for him to say a quick, “Hi mom,” of his own before putting the phone back against her ear.

“Hi dear!” she chimed in response to Itachi, then adding, “That’s a relief! When will you be home?”

Sasuke looked over at Itachi with a frown; Itachi mouthed a quick, “I’ll drive you.” Sasuke’s frown deepened.

“Soon,” he finally responded. “Itachi says he’ll drive me, so I’ll be back soon. Sorry to worry you.”

They said a quick goodbye and once Sasuke hit the button to end the call on his phone, he looked over at Itachi with a askant look.

“Can’t I stay here, Itachi? I’m sure they wouldn’t care, if you told mom that it was fine,” Sasuke reasoned, hoping Itachi would take pity on him and let him stay. Itachi only rubbed his back in response, making Sasuke sigh.

“I’m gonna need a new shirt then.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to have this out a couple of days ago, but boy did this week take a turn for me, so I'm sorry for the delay there, but I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's an immediate continuation of the last one, since I wasn't originally sure if I wanted to use the first portion or not, and then decided I liked it.
> 
> Please enjoy! :)

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

When they arrived at their parent’s house, Sasuke sat in the car, still unwilling to get out. He wasn’t exactly pouting at Itachi anymore, but he still wasn’t happy, although when Itachi asked his question, Sasuke did perk up just a bit. At least for a moment, until he remembered what he needed to do tomorrow. What he _should have done today._

“Hopefully,” Sasuke said. “I have to, you know, talk with Naruto first…”

“Ah,” Itachi intoned. There was a beat of silence and then, quietly, almost distractedly, “Are you okay with this, Sasuke? Truly?”

Sasuke looked over at Itachi, but his brother wasn’t looking back at him. Instead, he had his eyes trained on the kitchen window.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Sasuke said and took Itachi’s hand in his. For a second, he stroked his fingers along his brother’s before lacing them together for the first time. When he did it, Sasuke couldn’t help but smile to himself.

“Don’t you feel that, Itachi?” Sasuke murmured, squeezing his hand. Their fingers slotted perfectly together, like they had been meant to be together since the beginning of time, like they had been made solely for one another. And Sasuke had no reason to believe otherwise. “Don’t you feel how right this feels, just sitting here and holding your hand?”

“Feeling right doesn’t mean that it _is_ right, Sasuke,” Itachi answered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “That’s exactly what it means, Itachi.”

“I just--”

“Sasuke! Say goodbye to your brother already and come inside! You’ll see him tomorrow!” Their mother yelled out at them from the doorway before ducking back inside.

Sasuke sighed and then turned his body toward Itachi as best he could in such a small, awkward space. “Why is this bothering you?” he asked. “Do you think you’re taking advantage of me or something? That I can’t actually make decisions for myself?”

“No,” Itachi replied, setting his eyes on Sasuke now. “Not at all. I just… I just - I don’t even know exactly. I want the best for you, Sasuke; I always have and I just--”

“Don’t think you’re the best for me?” Sasuke finished.

“I want to be,” Itachi said. He squeezed Sasuke’s hand tightly, like he was afraid to let him go, or that he was afraid Sasuke would _let him_ let go. “I wish I was, but how can I be when I can’t even give you a _real_ relationship? When we can’t go out in public _together?_ ”

“We can go out in public together, Itachi,” Sasuke said.

Itachi leveled a look at him and shook his head. “It’s not the same, Sasuke, and you know that.”

“Sasuke!” Their mother had poked her head out of the front door again and was shouting. “You have a phone! Say good night and just text your brother later! Come inside!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming, jeez,” Sasuke muttered, blowing out a long breath when Mikoto went back inside. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Itachi again.

“Look at me,” he demanded, wiggling in his seat some so he could scooch as close as possible to Itachi even with the center console between them. He put both his hands on Itachi’s cheeks and looked his brother right in the eyes. “I don’t care about any of that. I don’t care that you’re my brother, that we _definitely_ shouldn’t be doing any of the things we have been, that the world would look down on us if it knew. The only thing I care about is _you_ , Itachi. I care about you, and how you make me feel.”

Itachi started to open his mouth, but Sasuke hushed him and continued, “Everything feels just... _right_ when I’m with you, and that isn’t something I’m willing to give up. Even if that means we can never be _together_ in public. The world doesn’t need to know that I care about you more than I should. Only you need to know it, because I do… I lo--”

Itachi surged forward and kissed Sasuke briefly, cutting off his admission.

“Don’t say it now,” Itachi said when they parted, but he was smiling. “Not when this is so new. Not while you’re still with him.”

Sasuke nodded; he understood where Itachi was coming from, understood the strange place his brother’s mind was in, and even though he wanted to tell Itachi the extent of his feelings, he would keep it to himself for now.

They whispered goodbyes to each other in between a few quick kisses before Sasuke got out of the car and went inside, turning to wave one last goodbye at Itachi as he drove off.

“There he is!” Mikoto chimed when he walked in, her back was to him while she was rinsing dishes in the sink. “I can’t imagine what you and your brother were talking about for so long out there.”

Sasuke shrugged and started to his room after he took off his shoes, trying not to smile as he thought of the evening they’d spent together.

“Honey,” Mikoto called as he walked down the hallway, “is that a new shirt? I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

Three hours later, Sasuke lay wide awake in bed. Every now and then he’d pick up his phone and open up his messages, going between Itachi and Naruto’s conversation threads. He’d thought about messaging his brother, but at this time of night, Itachi was probably fast asleep and he didn’t know what he’d say anyway. That he was nervous about tomorrow? That he needed advice on what to say to Naruto? That he wished he could have an out and not have to deal with this?

The last one had come back to him often since he’d laid down, and what caused him to go back to Naruto’s name on his phone for the umpteenth time, squinting at the light again after his eyes had adjusted back to the darkness five minutes ago. He flirted with the dangerous idea again, going so far as to type out half a message to Naruto:

_“Naruto, this just isn’t working out between us. I made a mistake when I agr”_

Then he stopped.

He couldn’t. He _couldn’t_.

And even if he _did_ , he would still have to see Naruto in the morning at school. Sit next to him throughout all their classes. Deal with his questions and stares and screams and accusations.

No, he couldn’t do that. Didn’t want to deal with it.

Sasuke erased the message, like the four other times he’d typed out something similar to it before now.

He clicked the button on the side of his phone and his eyes thanked him when the darkness came again, but then cursed him when he wouldn’t just close them and go to sleep.

How could he?

The light from his phone brightened his room again, searing into his eyes and brain like a brand. This time, he didn’t go to his messages, but his contacts, clicking on his brother’s name and smiling just slightly--just exhaustedly when he saw the picture of Itachi he’d put as his contact a couple of years ago. He looked bored, his gaze distant but still focused with one hand brushing his bangs out of his face.

Sasuke remembered the day he took the photo, it had been one of the last regular visits that Itachi had made and he’d been talking with their father about a trip that he and their mother had recently taken. Sasuke didn’t know why he’d taken the picture, but looking at it now, he could only marvel at how pretty his brother was. A thought he realized he’d had many times before now, before this, before _them_.

His heart ached at the thought and encouraged Sasuke to hit the call button. He put the phone to his ear and listened to it ring. Itachi wasn’t going to pick up, he told himself, but if he could even listen to his voicemail, then maybe that would soothe him enough so he could try and get a little sleep tonight.

“Sasuke?” Itachi’s voice, groggy and concerned, answered on the third ring and Sasuke’s eyes went wide. “Are you okay?”

“I…” Sasuke stopped himself.

_I shouldn’t have called. I shouldn’t have called. I shouldn’t have called._

His mind raced with guilt for waking Itachi up.

“Are you there, Sasuke? Are you okay?” Itachi asked again, his voice a little clearer. So was the concern.

“I… I’m sorry,” Sasuke managed out. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Itachi laughed to himself and Sasuke could hear him shifting in bed. He closed his eyes and pretended he was laying next to him.

“Then you wouldn’t have called at two in the morning. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Sasuke shook his head to himself. He felt more ridiculous now for calling, for needing comfort over something so trivial, for feeling less and less guilty about calling with every breath he heard on the other end of the line. “I just, I can’t sleep.”

“Mm,” Itachi hummed.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized again, “I can let you go so you can get back to sleep.”

“No, it’s fine,” Itachi said quickly. “I’m here. Talk to me; what’s bothering you?”

“Nothing.”

_Too much._

“Alright, then what would make you feel better about this ‘nothing’ that’s definitely not bothering you?”

Sasuke was quiet for a second, thinking, feeling silly for the answer pushing to get out of him, but he said it anyway, “Can you just stay on the phone with me for a while? Until I go to sleep?”

Another laugh, breathy and light and Sasuke’s heart clenched, ready for Itachi to say no. Instead, “I’ll do you one better; I’ll stay on the phone the rest of the night with you. That way we can sleep together.”

Sasuke’s stomach flip-flopped, but it was a better feeling than when he’d been talking with Naruto at school. He smiled, felt warm, felt cared for. “That’s cheesy.”

“Says the one who called me.”

“Fair enough,” Sasuke said, tilting his head slightly. He turned onto his side and tucked his phone between his ear and his pillow before pulling his blanket up to his chin.

The line was quiet apart from Itachi’s breathing for a long while as Sasuke’s mind wandered, but now it wasn’t toward what he would need to do in a few hours and how much he wanted to chicken out of it again. Now it was about Itachi and how nice it would feel to actually sleep by his brother’s side.

“Itachi?” Sasuke asked, quiet, whispering, not wanting to wake Itachi up again.

“Yes?”

Sasuke took a deep breath, Itachi’s voice sending another wave of comfort crashing over him because his brother was still there.

“Could I stay the night with you tonight? Or this weekend? Or next week? Or--”

“Yes, Sasuke,” Itachi said quietly, stopping him mid-ramble. “To any of those. Ask mom first, but yes.”

“I’m eighteen, Itachi, I shouldn’t have to ask her for permission to stay with my brother.”

“I’ll let you be the one to tell her that, then,” Itachi said, a smile clear in his voice. Sasuke matched it with his own, his heart, his mind, his _soul_ filling up with something Sasuke hadn’t really felt until the other day. Until Itachi kissed him under the stars.

Happiness.

“Itachi?” Sasuke said again.

“Yes, Sasuke?”

“I…” Sasuke bit his lip and hummed. He knew he shouldn’t say it, but he wanted to. He wanted to, so bad. “Really want to say it. What you asked me not to say yet, you know, earlier.”

Now Itachi was quiet. One heartbeat went by. Then another.

Sasuke stared out into the darkness of his room, three words running through his mind over and over and over as he waited for Itachi to speak. _To say something._

“And I want you to say it. I want to _hear it_. More than anything, but--”

“But what?”

“But I want you to be mine when you say it. Just mine, and no one else's.”

Sasuke breathed out, his chest aching with a steady rhythm pounding against his ribcage. “I understand,” he said.

They lapsed into silence again, and this time Sasuke actually closed his eyes and tried to sleep, listening to his brother breathing. His thoughts started to quiet and he could feel himself slipping off when he heard:

“Hey, Sasuke?”

“Mhm,” he hummed, holding onto the little shreds of consciousness he had left.

“I love you, too.”

Sasuke smiled against his phone as he finally fell asleep, the worries of the day ahead of him forgotten for the moment.

When lunch came, Sasuke was thankful.

He finally had a break from Naruto’s constant presence at his side. He’d gotten called to the principal’s office over another one of the pranks he’d pulled, and while Sasuke’s wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone, even just a minute or two was enough. He needed a break from pretending.

“Hey, Sasuke.” It was Sakura. It was strange for her to even be in the cafeteria during lunch, since she normally went straight to her next class and ate there while she worked on some of her classwork. “Where’s Naruto?”

Sasuke gave her a knowing look and she groaned, “Again? I keep telling him he’s too old to keep pulling these stunts.”

“And when has he ever listened?”

She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. Her lunch was simple, just a sandwich and an apple, but Sakura ignored both as she looked over at him.

“You doing okay?”

Sasuke gave her a look that he hoped said _why wouldn’t I be?_ It wasn’t true, but he hoped that she wouldn’t really be able to tell. Naruto hadn’t picked up on anything yet today, and the blond had been pretty inseparable from him until now.

“Yikes,” Sakura said with a grimace. “What’s wrong?”

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” he asked.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously as she said, “Aside from the near octave your voice just jumped at that question? You look terrible, Sasuke, like you’ve got something on your mind.”

“My voice--ahem,” Sasuke cleared his throat when his voice cracked and just decided to stop that argument there. “Fine, but I don’t have anything on my mind.”

“Sure, okay, and I don’t have pink hair.”

“Ha ha,” Sasuke mumbled as he ate a section of an orange he’d brought with him. “Your roots are showing.”

Sakura caught herself as her hand was halfway to her hair and she nudged Sasuke with her elbow. “No they’re not. I just did my hair two days ago.”

“So you admit,” Sasuke said, pointing at her, “That you don’t have pink hair. Naturally.”

Sakura rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Fine, if you don’t want to tell me what’s going on, then keep it to yourself. I just didn’t realize we were getting to that point in our friendship where you don’t want to talk to me when something’s bothering you anymore, but it’s fine. Tooootally fine.”

“Ugh, fine, stop with the guilt. You’re worse than my mother!” Sasuke exclaimed. He ran his hand over his face and tried not to smile when he saw how excited Sakura looked now from the corner of his eye. “Maybe you could help me, anyway.”

“Of course I can,” she said assuredly. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I have to tell someone something--”

“Very vague.”

“--and I don’t know how.”

Sakura nodded like she was waiting for him to say more. When he didn’t, she gestured for him to keep going as she said, “Aaaand, what do you need to tell this mystery person?”

“I...can’t tell you that.”

“Ooh, vaguer still.”

“So what do you suggest?”

Sakura raised both of her eyebrows and looked at him for a long, quiet moment before she said, “So just to recap: you would like advice on what to say to some mystery person about some issue that you won’t mention, is that about right?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke was looking at her expectantly.

“Uh huh, okay, so tell me then,” Sakura tapped her chin a couple of times with her index finger. “Like...what kind of advice are you wanting? Because with this _incredible_ amount of information you’ve given me, all I can possibly tell you is just...like, talk to the person and be honest?”

Sasuke groaned, “Yeah, I already knew that. I need to know--”

“Hey, Sasuke; _hey, Sakura!_ You haven’t been out here for lunch in months or somethin’!”

Sasuke’s eyes widened when he heard Naruto’s voice. He turned to his right and saw Naruto stop at the end of the table, but he didn’t sit down yet. He looked cheery, which probably meant he’d gotten detention.

“Yeah, I know, but I figured I’d come and slum it out here with you guys today. You’ve obviously missed me a lot.”

“Of course we have!” Naruto laughed. “Did I miss anything good?”

Sakura rolled her eyes, “I wish. Sasuke was just telling me that he needs--”

“That I need to figure out what to get my mom for her birthday!” Sasuke interjected quickly. Sakura looked at him strangely for a second, but he didn’t pay her any mind.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. “Wasn’t her birthday back in June though?”

“Ah, yeah,” Sasuke laughed nervously, “It was! But it’s always good to prepare, right?”

Naruto shrugged. “Well let me go and grab some food before they shut the doors and I’ll be right back.” He leaned down to kiss Sasuke, but Sasuke tilted his head downward slightly, so Naruto’s lips ended up on his forehead. Naruto laughed about it before he walked off.

When Sasuke turned back to Sakura, he felt a sense of dread as he saw her eyes widen and face paler than if she’d just seen a ghost. Or figured out exactly what he hadn’t wanted to tell her.

“Oh. My. God.” she whispered through her fingers as she covered her mouth. Potentially to keep from screaming. “ _That’s_ what you need advice on?”

“I don’t know what you mean, I didn’t say anything,” Sasuke said quickly. His heart was in his throat and beating faster with his rising panic.

“You want to know how to _break up with Naruto_ ,” she all but mouthed the last words so that no one else around them would hear.

“ _I didn’t say that!_ ” Sasuke hissed at her.

“You didn’t have to! After that, you’re lucky if the whole school doesn’t already know!”

Sasuke frowned at that and moved closer to her on the little bench seat so that their shoulders were pressed together. “Okay, then, _yes_ , I want to break up with him. Tell me what I should say to him!”

“Uh-uh,” Sakura shook her head. “The last thing _I’m_ going to do is get in the middle of this, you just need to be honest with him, Sasuke.”

He wished that was something that he didn’t already know, but he couldn’t force Sakura into the middle of his relationship problem. He nodded and scooted back away from her. He put his lunch back into the bag he had packed it in, no longer hungry enough to try and eat.

Sakura looked at him a little pitifully. “What’s going on? I thought you were happy with him?”

Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto chatting with another one of their classmates at the front of the cafeteria; he’d gotten sidetracked before he could get his food and Sasuke could see that the doors to the kitchen were closed now, so he’d be out of luck for a hot lunch today.

“It was fine, but I guess that’s all that it was,” Sasuke said with a shrug. “I just realized that I’m not...happy, you know?”

“Is it because of the people talking about you two? Cause if it is, you just can’t pay it any mind, Sasuke. You know that you have been one of the most sought after guys in our whole school, so people are just trying to get over the idea that you’re off the market.”

“And gay,” Sasuke added.

“Yeah, well, that too,” Sakura confirmed. “But in another week, that will blow over and someone else will be the talk of the school. Plus graduation is right around the corner, so it’s not like it’s something that you have to deal with for another year or so. It’s just a few weeks.”

“I know, but it just isn’t working, Sakura. Things have...changed,” he said with a shrug. “And I think Naruto and I are better off as friends.”

Sakura sighed. “I mean, if that’s what you feel.”

“It is,” Sasuke said. “Could you do me a favor though?”

Sakura eyed him suspiciously, but nodded.

“Can you not say anything to him until tomorrow maybe? I’m planning to do it after school.”

Sakura laughed, “You couldn’t pay me to talk to him before you do today.”

As if to drive her point home, she nodded over to where Naruto was coming back toward them and then got up and left, taking her lunch with her.

“Where did Sakura go?” Naruto asked when he got back to the table, taking a seat across the table from Sasuke, much to his relief.

Sasuke just shrugged and said, “You know her.”

He passed Naruto the rest of his lunch and listened to the other boy go on about how his meeting with the principal had gone and what his plan was for his next prank. If Naruto thought there was anything off about Sasuke’s behavior, he didn’t mention it and for that Sasuke was grateful.

Okay, Sasuke could admit to himself that this break up wasn’t going the best.

Everything had started out fine. He’d successfully diverted them into just going to Naruto’s house after learning from that mistake yesterday, since, yeah, break ups probably _were_ better when you had privacy.

He’d _also_ successfully gotten _into_ the house without running away or making an excuse. So he definitely thought he deserved a pat on the back for that, because his mind was blaring alarms the entire way from school until they were walking through the door, and honestly, even after that.

Actually, _especially_ after that. Because Sasuke hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that something was off. He had sat down on the couch as he’d wondered what could possibly be wrong; he’d come to Naruto’s house a thousand times before and nothing bad had happened any of those times.

He’d neglected, however, to take into account a few new circumstances.

Number one, was that he and Naruto were “dating” now, at least for the next couple of minutes until he could gather the courage to end it as swiftly as it had started.

Number two, was that he had seemed awfully _eager_ to get Naruto home after school.

And number three, probably the most unfortunate for him right now, was that Naruto had no idea that anything was wrong.

Which is probably what led him to ending up with a lap full of the blond, that quickly also became a mouthful when Naruto surged forward and kissed him desperately.

Sasuke pressed against Naruto’s chest, trying to push him away, but Naruto just latched his lips to Sasuke’s neck instead and ground his hips down against Sasuke’s, causing him to groan against his will.

“Naruto,” he muttered, which seemed to be a bad idea, as it only encouraged the other boy more. Naruto pressed a hand up Sasuke’s shirt.

“Naruto,” Sasuke said again, collecting himself. “Naruto, stop.”

He was able to push Naruto away this time, trying to be as gentle as he could as he shoved him onto the cushion next to him.

Naruto looked confused, but he straightened himself on the cushion, saying, “What’s wrong, Sasuke? Isn’t this why you wanted to come over?”

“I--no. Why would you--” Sasuke stopped himself, realizing how his actions could have been taken that way. “Nevermind. No, that-that isn’t why…”

Naruto sat up a little straighter and tugged unselfconsciously at his clothes. Sasuke was impressed by Naruto’s lack of embarrassment in the situation. He wasn’t the one being actively rejected by his boyfriend, but even Sasuke was embarrassed by how this was going.

“Okay,” Naruto said. “Then what’s going on?”

Suddenly, Sasuke was face to face with the conversation he’d been dreading.

He wished he could say it was easier to deal with it now that he was in the moment - or, hell, even that he didn’t actively keep thinking that sending a break up text last night was probably the better way he could’ve gone with this.

Because it wasn’t, and he definitely did keep thinking about it.

“I… Well, we--” Sasuke stuttered out. The longer he looked at Naruto and his open, questioning gaze, the worse Sasuke felt. “We need to talk.”

There!

He’d said it!

He’d _done_ it!

Well not _it_ it, but close enough. He’d heard enough girls at school talk about those few words, and how they only ever meant one thing.

“Okay,” Naruto said, his expression unchanged. “What did you want to talk about, Sasuke?”

No.

No, no, _no!_

Sasuke sighed, but he wished he could scream.

Of course, Naruto would be the one person in the world unaffected by those words. He was unaffected by Sasuke’s, extremely self realized, strange behavior, so why would he expect anything else?

“I wanted to talk about...us,” he said slowly.

A blond brow rose and with it, so did Sasuke, pushing himself off the couch to put some distance between them. Alarms were going off in his head still, screaming _go now, leave and this will end badly!_

Well, here went nothing…

“I don’t think this is working between us.”

Naruto kept his composure, and Sasuke couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. It wasn’t that he _wanted_ Naruto to fly into a rage or shout or cry, but Sasuke thought that he might feel a little less on edge if Naruto _did something._

After a long moment of silence just staring at one another, Naruto tilted his head to the side. “Are you saying you don’t like me?”

“No!” Sasuke said, but then quickly course corrected. “I mean, I like you, but as a friend. I...made a mistake when I agreed to dating you.”

“Made a mistake?”

“Not that _you’re_ a mistake! You’re great! I just--oh boy, this could be going better,” Sasuke muttered the last part to himself.

Naruto stood up and it took everything in Sasuke not to back away when Naruto came over to stand in front of him.

“I don’t really understand where this is coming from, Sasuke.”

“It’s not really… I mean, it’s just how I feel, Naruto.”

“There’s not someone else, is there?”

Sasuke’s mind flashed to Itachi, but he shook his head, not allowing his thoughts to linger on the chance it made him seem guilty. “No, of course not.”

Naruto smiled. It wasn’t bright, but it also wasn’t sad. Again, Sasuke was impressed.

“Okay, Sasuke. I understand.”

The alarms blared again, louder and louder still, but Sasuke couldn’t figure out a reason why. Sure, it had started off a little rough, but things were going fine now. Weren’t they?

“That’s great, thank you. Can we still be friends? If that’s not too weird?”

“Of course, Sasuke,” Naruto said.

Oh.

Then Naruto hugged him.

Oh boy.

It shouldn’t have been as awkward as it was, but it _definitely_ was. Sasuke wasn’t sure what he should do, but he hugged back reluctantly. And only briefly. That was important to note. _Briefly._

When he pulled away, Sasuke gave Naruto a pat on the arm, leaning whole-heartedly back into their friend/bro territory, and said, “I should...probably go.”

Naruto nodded, but didn’t say anything in reply.

If Sasuke thought about it more, he’d probably think that was weird, but as it was, he was doing all he could to try not to run from Naruto’s house. Maybe he couldn’t help it that he was walking as fast as possible though…

Leaning against Itachi later, Sasuke felt comforted, the same way he had when they’d been on the phone last night.

“So,” Itachi said, “You never told me how it went with Naruto.”

“Mm,” Sasuke hummed. “I really don’t think we need to talk about it.”

“That bad?”

“No. Actually,” Sasuke turned in Itachi’s arms and looked up at him. “It went a lot better than I thought it would.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Yeah, it was weird…”

Itachi brought a hand up and cupped Sasuke’s cheek gently. Sasuke smiled contentedly and laid his head back down on Itachi’s chest. His brother’s heartbeat was strong and Sasuke couldn’t help but close his eyes as he listened to it.

“Did mom say if you could stay tonight?” Itachi’s voice reverberated pleasantly in Sasuke’s head.

“No. She said I can this weekend, but “Until I graduate, I need to be home on school nights.”” If he could say so himself, Sasuke thought he did a decent impression of their mother.

“I can’t say I’m surprised. If I’d ever _wanted_ to go out, I’m sure she would have said the same to me.”

Sasuke scoffed, “As if. You and I both know that there is no wrong that you can ever do in their eyes.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Itachi whispered. He lifted Sasuke’s head up from his chest and leaned down to meet Sasuke’s lips in a sweet kiss. When Itachi pulled away, he murmured against Sasuke’s lips, “I don’t think they’d approve of this.”

Sasuke couldn’t stop the grin that spread over his lips as he said, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you aren’t as perfect as you’ve led me to believe all these years.”

Itachi smiled and leaned back, “Maybe.”

Sasuke shook his head and laughed, sitting up but still staying close. Now that their parents were on his mind, Sasuke couldn’t help but ask, “Do you think they’ll be upset when I finally tell them I’m gay?”

“I couldn’t say,” Itachi said. “I would hope not.”

“No? What did they say when you told them?”

“I haven’t told them anything,” Itachi said.

Sasuke’s eyes widened. Sure, he hadn’t heard their parents ever talk about Itachi and anyone that he was dating, but he had just figured - right now in this moment - that they had just been ashamed of him and wanted to forget about that flaw that Itachi had.

“So...you never…?” he left the rest of the question unsaid.

Itachi shook his head, “I don’t really think it’s any business of theirs who I decide to date.”

Sasuke nodded. Okay, sure, he got that. And yeah, it wasn’t really important, but now Sasuke _had_ to know. “So then, are you, you know, gay?”

Itachi just shrugged nonchalantly.

At that, Sasuke waved both hands in front of his face and leaned forward in anticipation. “Woah, woah, you can’t just shrug at me like that! Now I need to know!”

To Sasuke’s chagrin, Itachi shrugged again, although he was smirking as he did it. “It doesn’t really matter to me, Sasuke. I’ve only dated two people and they both _happened_ to be men, but it wasn’t anything I paid too much attention to.”

“Who did you date?” Sasuke asked, even more interested now.

“Now that’s definitely a story for another day,” Itachi said, and before Sasuke’s pout could turn into a full blown argument Itachi moved forward and pushed Sasuke backward until he was laid out on the couch with Itachi looming over him with a smile. “And anyway, I have something I’d like to ask you.”

Any protests that Sasuke had about Itachi evading his question died on his lips as he enjoyed the view from underneath his brother. “Okay,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking since we talked about it last night when I dropped you off. I know I said that we could never really be out together--”

“Itachi,” Sasuke interrupted, “I told you, that doesn’t--”

“--but I finally wondered, what if we could?” There was a glint in Itachi’s dark eyes that Sasuke couldn’t resist.

“Okay,” Sasuke said slowly, tilting his head to the side. “I’m intrigued, what do you mean?”

“I mean,” Itachi said, slipping his hand under Sasuke’s shirt. “If you’re up for it,” Sasuke closed his eyes when his fingers brushed against his stomach. “I thought we might leave the village for a few days. Possibly this weekend?”

Sasuke hummed happily and stretched his body out, giving Itachi more access to touch him. “And where were you thinking we’d go?”

“Off the top of my head,” Itachi whispered against Sasuke’s neck, close enough to tease and tickle the skin, but not enough for any real contact. “Maybe Suna, but does it matter? Just think about it,” he pushed Sasuke’s shirt up and exposed his chest before moving down to kiss his stomach. Sasuke gasped and felt Itachi smile against his skin at the sound, “I’d be able to touch you and everyone would know that you are _mine_.”

A shiver ran through him and Sasuke whispered, “ _Yes_.”

The thought excited Sasuke more than he knew it should, but being somewhere where no one knew them, where no one knew _what they were_ thrilled him, and that Itachi was willing to hold him in public, to kiss him, to claim him in front of _everyone_... The pleasant tingle that had started building in him throbbed at the thought and Sasuke put both of his hands on his brother’s head, pulling down the bun he had up so he could thread his fingers through the silky raven hair as it fell down and stained his pale skin.

He shifted, pulling Itachi’s hair gently to try and pull the man up to him, pull him closer, press their bodies together so that there could be some type of friction. Something more than just the teasing kisses up and down his abdomen, steering clear of any spots that might make him cry out for more.

“Itachi,” Sasuke moaned when Itachi gave in and took one of his nipples into his mouth, sucking on it gently while he rolled the other between his thumb and forefinger. “Ahh, yes, please.”

_Buzzzz Buzzzz_

The sudden intrusive noise startled them both and they turned in unison to look at where the noise was coming from.

“Ugh,” Sasuke sighed unhappily when he recognized his phone on the coffee table. The screen was lit up with the time and an alarm that read _“Go home!”_

“Just ignore it,” Itachi whispered in his ear, nipping at it. He started to melt into compliance when Itachi’s hand ran up his thigh, coming dangerously close to his growing erection.

“I want to,” Sasuke said breathlessly. Fuck, did he want to.

_Buzzzz Buzzzz_

But even as much as he wanted to, he knew he couldn’t...

He wrapped his arms around Itachi’s neck and pulled him forward desperately, happy that Itachi came willingly and their lips met in a hard, crushing, wanting kiss that they lost themselves in for a moment, grabbing and thrusting against each other until they were left gasping when they pulled apart.

“Then why don’t you?”

He could hear the encouragement in Itachi’s voice and he almost gave in, he wanted so much to give in.

_Buzzzz Buzzzz_

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes, pressing his head back against the cushion like he hoped he could drown out the noise so he could ignore it and stay.

It would be so much better if he stayed.

“Because I should really get home on time,” Sasuke finally said, reminding himself of why he needed to leave.

Itachi made an approving noise in his throat, but didn’t move to let Sasuke go. Instead, his hand continued it’s journey until Itachi was palming him through his pants, pressing gently with the heel of his hand just enough to make Sasuke feel like he was starting to lose his mind.

“Itachi!” Sasuke was almost whining now. His hips bucked against his brother’s hand and Sasuke’s mind swam with arousal. 

“Stay with me a little longer; I’ll drive you home.”

The offer was enticing and exciting and Sasuke was far past tempted to accept it, especially when Itachi started undoing his pants.

_Buzzzz Buzzzz_

“Mm,” Sasuke groaned, partly from arousal and partly from irritation. He grabbed Itachi’s hand before his brother could go any further and completely convince him to say. “No, Itachi, I really should go.” He banged his head against the cushion a few times, silently punishing himself for the fact that he was about to walk away from this, but there was a point. He had to remind himself of that. He had to remind both of them.

“I don’t want to give mom a reason to change her mind about me staying with you this weekend.”

This time Itachi sighed. He leaned forward until his forehead was resting on Sasuke’s chest gently. His breath was so warm on his skin that Sasuke thought he might burn up and he couldn’t help but wonder - _hope_ \- if Itachi would try anything else, and if he did, would Sasuke be able to resist him again?

But after a long heartbeat of anticipation, Itachi moved and let him up.

“You’ve only got to wait two more days until the weekend,” Sasuke said after they shared one last kiss at the door. He stepped outside, but didn’t leave yet. “And then you can do whatever you want with me.”

“When you put it like that, we might never leave the house this weekend,” Itachi replied, leaning toward Sasuke.

He stepped outside of Itachi’s reach with a teasing smile.

“That wouldn’t be so bad either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so there we go! Next chapter we jump into an interesting one. Our first one outside of Konoha, and I've been looking forward to this one a lot, because it is going to start an interesting development. Again, I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, guys, this chapter is coming out later than I wanted. I had it done super early, but work had me caught up and then there were wildfires about a 1/2 mile from where I live that had us out of power for a day and a half. We just got power back today, so I decided I was gonna get this finished and uploaded for you guys. I hope you like it. I have the next chapter already written and I just have to finish editing it, so it should be up in a couple of days!

“I missed you today.”

Sasuke rolled over onto his back in bed and smiled against his phone, Itachi’s voice making him feel more at home than his own room. “I’m sorry, I wanted to get my weekend assignments early so I could get them done before we leave tomorrow,” he explained, then after a moment added, “I missed you, too.”

“I guess I’ll forgive you then,” Itachi said jokingly, “After all, mom would be upset with you if you didn’t get your work done.”

“You’re telling me,” Sasuke groaned, remembering earlier. “As soon as I got home she was asking every five minutes if I was sure I’d gotten everything. She wouldn’t believe me until I let her go through each assignment herself!”

Itachi laughed, “I don’t miss that.”

“I definitely won’t either,” Sasuke lamented. “Graduation can’t come fast enough.”

“I haven’t asked, but do you have any thoughts on what you’d like to do to celebrate when that comes?”

“Heh, no, but thanks for being the _only_ one to ask. Mom just keeps going on about colleges. I keep telling her I’m not sure I’m even going to do that, but you know her... She has her own idea of what I need to do with my life.”

“So what do _you_ want to do?” Itachi asked.

The question made him pause. What _did_ he want to do?

Sasuke was quiet for a moment as he thought about it, but he just ended up sighing and picking at a loose string on his blanket. “I don’t know. I just...want the chance to do what _I_ want, whatever that ends up being, instead of trying to…”

He stopped himself, hesitating, wondering if he should say it. If he _could_.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, more that he wasn’t sure he was ready to admit it all out loud. That he didn’t feel good enough, that he’d overheard more than his fair share of their parents arguments about how he could apply himself more, regardless of the fact that _Sasuke_ thought he was doing the best he could.

“Trying to what?”

Sasuke stared at a spot across his room, his fist clenching and unclenching unconsciously against his leg.

“...To be like you,” Sasuke whispered finally.

“Sasuke…” Itachi’s voice was soft and he sounded like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t, so Sasuke kept talking, letting it out in a rush.

“They won’t stop comparing me to you, Itachi. My grades, the classes I take, the fact that I couldn’t get through school _quick enough_. I mean, I know they’re proud of you. You’re great, after all, and I’m just--”

“Sasuke,” Itachi interrupted, his voice more firm. “Please don’t do that to yourself. Don’t _ever_ compare yourself to anyone. You’re incredible, and smart, and-and _amazing_ , truly, and the last thing I ever want is for you to think that you’re not good enough. Because it’s just not true…”

Sasuke bit his lip. His hand itched to hold his brother’s as his throat constricted with emotion from the unexpected admission. It wasn’t the first time Itachi had said something like that; he’d made a point to tell him when they were younger, but now it meant more. It was more, because _they_ were more.

“You’re more than good enough for me,” Itachi said, affection clear in his tone. “You always have been.”

“I… Thank you.”

Sasuke pulled his blanket up to his chin and smiled to himself, savoring the feeling that those words gave him. He felt seen, felt heard, felt like he always had with Itachi before he’d stopped coming around. Whole, complete and not wishing for something more. From himself or anyone else.

“Are you packed for tomorrow?” Itachi’s voice broke into Sasuke’s thoughts. “I thought I’d pick you up around four.”

Sasuke looked around his room, squinting in the dim light that came from the lamp on his desk across the room. The bag he was packing was open on the desk and he had clothes strewn everywhere between there and his closet. He hadn’t been able to figure out what he should bring yet. He wasn’t really the type to dress up unless he had to, and up until now he’d never really had a reason to even care.

Naruto had just been _Naruto_ , after all.

This though...

“Uh, yeah,” Sasuke muttered. “Totally packed and ready to go.”

“That’s good to hear; I have to admit I’m kind of surprised that you are.”

“Hey, give me a break! I’m perfectly capable of getting packed on time,” Sasuke exclaimed, but then hummed when he saw an opening. “Buuut just so I don’t upstage _you_ , why don’t you tell me what _you’re_ bringing so I have enough time to repack if I need to.”

“Ah, _of course_ , well I have to admit that _I’m_ not packed yet,” Sasuke could hear the amusement in Itachi’s voice and knew his brother was enjoying his suffering. “So I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Sasuke.”

Well _that_ hadn't been helpful.

“How can I _not_ worry though?” Sasuke argued. “This is… We’re _going away together_ , Itachi. For a whole weekend!”

“I know, I was the one who asked you, remember?”

“Ha ha ha, wipe that smirk off your face already,” Sasuke rolled his eyes. “This is just...big is all. Special, and I just want to make sure I don’t mess this up.”

“How could you possibly mess this up?” Itachi sounded skeptical, but Sasuke’s mind raced with possibilities.

“I could do something stupid, I could _say_ something stupid, or what if we get into an argument? Or, what if...I-I don’t know,” Sasuke huffed out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Besides...I mean,” he paused, trying to decide if he should even say it, but it had been on his mind too much today to just stay silent about it. “I don’t even know what _we_ are.”

“Okay, well, first of all, it’s not like we haven’t known each other for, you know, your entire life, so I don’t think there’s anything at this point that you could say _or_ do that I’d find particularly strange,” Itachi said with a laugh.

“I...guess that’s a fair point,” Sasuke conceded.

“Exactly, and so what if we argue? It doesn’t have to be the end of our trip; we’ll just talk it out and move on.”

Sasuke sighed, “Okay, that’s reasonable…” 

Of course his logical brain hadn’t been considering _that_. No, instead it had been panicking that Itachi would strand him in some strange town because they disagreed over something ridiculous, like ice cream flavors. Which he had to remind himself now, that they wouldn’t do anyway because they both like the same one, mint chocolate chip.

_Stupid brain_ , he chided himself.

“And the last one is the easiest of them all,” Itachi said and Sasuke held his breath, waiting for his answer. “What do you want us to be, Sasuke?

“Woah, wait,” Sasuke shook his head and pushed himself into a sitting position. “Why is it up to me? What do _you_ want us to be?”

“Hold on,” Itachi muttered to himself. After a second, Sasuke heard his phone beep and he pulled it away from his ear to see Itachi trying to video call him. He clicked accept and smiled when his brother’s face brightened his screen.

“Are you living in a cave, Sasuke?” Itachi’s eyes were searching for him in the darkness. “Why is it so dark?”

Sasuke reached over and fumbled to turn on the lamp on his bedside table, and when he turned back to his phone he stuck his tongue out at Itachi. “Well you could have warned me before you just decided to video chat.”

“Well, I figured this conversation was best done face to face, so,” Itachi shrugged, “This works well enough.”

“Okay then...what are we?” he asked again, but couldn’t look at Itachi. He felt childish about the whole thing almost, but, well, he wanted to know. Yeah, Itachi was his brother, he’d always be that, but _this_ was beyond that. And he wanted to put some kind of name to it. Make some kind of sense of it.

“It’s not that I don’t want to answer, Sasuke. Or even that I don’t already have an answer, but I told you when this started between us that I want you to tell me what you want from me, from this, from _us_ ,” Itachi gestured vaguely between the two of them as he continued. ”I hope at this point you know well enough how I feel about you, so for me personally, I’ll happily put whatever label you want on us. Because I just want to be with you, regardless of what we are.”

Glancing at his video feed in the corner of the screen, Sasuke was suddenly unhappy that he’d turned his light on because he could see the beginnings of the blush that had crept up his neck at Itachi’s words.

“Well… I mean, I want… Ugh, it’s stupid,” Sasuke muttered to himself. He glanced at Itachi and then groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “You know, this _actually_ would have been a lot easier without you staring at me.”

He peeked an eye open and was unsurprised to see Itachi failing horribly not to smile at his despair. “I’m sure, but then I would've missed watching you die of absolute embarrassment. And what would my life be like without _that_?”

Sasuke stuck his tongue out at Itachi again, but took a deep breath and said slowly, “I want...you...to be...my...boyfriend,” then quickly followed with, “Is that weird? After saying it outloud, I feel that it’s weird.”

Itachi laughed loudly and the sound startled Sasuke so much that he dropped his phone. When he picked it back up, Itachi had covered his mouth, but was nearly rolling with laughter.

“Okay, okay, it’s not _that_ funny,” Sasuke pouted. He hadn’t realized that Itachi wouldn’t take him seriously about this.

Itachi’s phone shook slightly as he shook a hand at the screen, but he managed to calm himself enough to say, “No, no, I’m sorry. It wasn’t what you said, it was just, when you said that it’s weird, I couldn’t help but think, “ _that’s_ where you draw the line?” Because let’s be honest here, what could be any weirder than hooking up with your brother?”

Sasuke pressed his lips together tightly, fighting the urge…

“C’mon, you can admit that it’s a - Itachi held his forefinger and thumb up an inch apart from each other - little funny.”

The smile Sasuke was fighting broke over his lips and he laughed, quickly covering his mouth so he wouldn’t wake their parents. He had to look away from his phone as his shoulders shook with laughter so he didn’t see Itachi’s self-satisfied smile.

“I wish you were here with me,” Itachi finally said when Sasuke looked back at him, pressing his fingers over his lips to stop himself from laughing again.

“Me too,” he whispered back and then looked at the time. “I think I’m gonna lay down now, so you should too. Then,” Sasuke tilted his head to the side and smiled, “It’ll almost be like I’m there.”

Together, they both got under their covers and got comfortable. They laid there watching each other for a few moments before Sasuke said, “You know, I have half a mind to have you read me a bedtime story. I like listening to your voice when I go to sleep.”

Itachi smiled and said, “Well, if you give me a minute, I can pull up the ebook I’ve been reading. Could be boring though, it’s a historical fantasy novel that I’m halfway through, so you’re gonna be totally lost.”

“Boring is _great_ for sleeping, Itachi,” Sasuke said with a clear “duh” in his voice as he yawned.

“Okay,” Itachi said with a chuckle. He watched Sasuke fondly for a long moment and then quietly added, “By the way, it’s not weird to me and I’d love to be your boyfriend.”

His heart fluttered happily and Sasuke grinned, trying not to hide his face like a child in front of their crush. “Hush and read me your boring book.”

Sakura was waiting for Sasuke outside the next morning, much to his surprise. He hadn’t been expecting to see her for a while once she’d found out he was breaking up with Naruto. She wouldn’t want to seem like she was picking sides, after all. Especially not his, since he'd been the one doing the breaking.

“Woah,” she said, looking at him suspiciously when he came down the driveway to meet her. “You look _happy_. Like, ridiculously happy.”

“Uh, thanks? I am,” Sasuke said, trying not to smile as the thought came back to him once again this morning that Itachi was his _boyfriend_.

“Mm,” Sakura shook her head and looked him up and down. “I don’t like it. Go back inside - she waved her hands at him to go away - find my moody Sasuke and bring him back, you imposter!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her and started off down the road, knowing Sakura wouldn’t let him get too far.

“Seriously,” she said, falling into step with him, “I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen you this happy. It’s kinda weird, but...maybe that break up did you some good?”

Sasuke looked down and counted his steps, trying not to feel guilty about the very obvious elephant Sakura just put between them.

“Have you talked with him?” he asked.

“I mean, a little?” Sakura said with a shrug. “I texted him late Wednesday night and then yesterday a few times too, but he hasn't said much. And don’t worry,” she added, holding up a hand when Sasuke opened his mouth, “I told him I heard from Ino what happened.”

“How would--you know, nevermind,” Sasuke stopped himself. Ino had an uncanny ability to know a lot of things, so Sasuke wouldn’t have been surprised if she _did_ know about the break up. “I wasn’t going to ask about that anyway. I was just going to say that he was pretty quiet yesterday, too. He still sat next to me in our classes, which was, you know, fine and all, but I didn’t think he would.”

“That _is_ kinda weird,” Sakura confirmed.

“Maybe he’s really taking the “friends” thing to heart. Why should it be weird between us anyway?”

“It shouldn’t be, I agree…”

“But?” Sasuke asked at her pause.

“But c’mon, it’s _totally_ weird! I mean, you guys kissed and, and, well, if you had s--”

“Woah! Calm down. It was three days!”

“It’s okay to have sex, Sasuke, geez, and he _was_ your boyfriend, after all!” Sakura exclaimed, maybe a little more loudly than Sasuke would have liked.

“ _We didn’t have sex!_ ” he spat at her quietly. “The most we did was kiss, so get your mind out of the gutter!”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. Anyway, you two kissed, and _stuff!_ ” she added quickly, sidestepping away when Sasuke reached over to smack her shoulder. “So yeah, it’s gonna be weird! Once you cross that line with someone, it’s just not the same.”

“And you couldn’t have told me that before?”

“Before _what?_ ” she asked incredulously. “I couldn’t tell you before you agreed to date him because he didn’t come and ask me for advice, so my hands were kinda tied, Sasuke. So did you want me to go get my time machine or something to go back and warn you?”

“Yeah, that’d be great actually, if you could,” Sasuke said sarcastically, waving his hand at her dismissively as they stopped at the gates to the school, Sakura muttering beside him.

He’d done it yesterday too, out of habit; stopped and waited for Naruto like he - like they - used to do for years. Naruto had never come though and Sasuke had gone to class late yesterday, worried that something was wrong with Naruto, or that he had decided to skip school after their break up. When he’d gotten to class though, with his phone in his hand and half a worried message typed out, he’d been surprised, relieved, and yeah maybe _hurt_ that Naruto had just gone to class without him.

Today though, Sasuke wasn’t looking around and expecting Naruto to come running up to them like everything was normal. Well, not as much.

“So, what are you doing this weekend?” Sakura asked him, checking the time on her phone to make sure they had time to chit-chat before the bell. Since she didn’t hold her phone in her hand, staring obsessively at the time, he knew they had a few minutes at least. “My parents said it's supposed to be nice this weekend, so they’re gonna set up their new projector in the backyard. So, I didn’t know if you wanted to come binge some movies or something?”

“Wish I could,” Sasuke lied, “But I’ve actually got plans already.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow. “What plans? With who?”

“Chill out, Suspicious. With my brother.” Sakura’s gaze softened, but was still surprised. “He’s got this conference thing out of town this weekend and he asked if I wanted to come.”

It was the story Itachi had suggested they tell their parents. Simple and believable. Their parents had bought it easily enough, and since Sakura looked impressed, Sasuke could only assume she did, too.

“That’s cool,” she said then shrugged. “Guess that explains why he wasn’t here yesterday. Probably getting prepared, but I’m happy for you! You two are so close again, and I’m happy you have him back in your life.”

“Me too,” Sasuke said. He tried to make a mental note to ask Itachi why he hadn’t been at work yesterday, since he hadn’t made it seem like anything had been wrong when they’d talked last night.

“Raincheck on the backyard movies then,” Sakura said as the bell rang. They headed inside together and then quickly went their separate ways.

“Mom, please!” Sasuke said, opening his backpack up at his mother’s insistence. “I promise, everything is finished!”

“I trust you, honey,” Mikoto said, still taking the papers Sasuke offered her. “I just want to double check that you didn’t miss anything though! You won’t have time to do it once your brother brings you home on Sunday.”

Sasuke watched, withdrawn as she went through all his assignments due on Monday. She nodded and “mhm”ed as she went through them, pausing for an extra few seconds every now and then. Long enough for Sasuke’s heart to jump into his throat as he thought, for sure, she’d noticed a whole new page that he’d completely neglected to do.

“Everything looks great, sweetie!” She handed the papers back to him with a smile.

Sasuke felt relieved. The last thing he wanted was to have to postpone their trip because their mom wanted him to do more homework.

“Okay mom, Itachi is going to be here any minute, so can I finish getting ready please?”

“I’m not stopping you,” Mikoto said with a laugh, but she didn’t leave. “Anyway, your father and I were discussing this trip--”

“Oh, here we go,” Sasuke mouthed to himself as he put the last few things into his bag, his back to her.

“--and we think you should check out the college in Suna. We’ve heard really great things about it--”

“Mom,” Sasuke groaned. “I’ve told you before, but I… I don’t think I want to go to college.”

Mikoto acted more or less like she hadn’t heard him, “Oh dear, don’t be silly! Your brother had a great time in college and he--”

“Graduated early. I know, I was there,” Sasuke said.

“Were you? I can’t remember, that was so long ago anyway,” Mikoto said dismissively.

Sasuke tried not to hold onto the comment, like he tried not to hold onto all the ones before now. He took a deep breath and counted to three, his brother’s words from last night coming back and encouraging him.

“Mom,” he said sternly. “I’m not Itachi, and I’m never going to be. I’m - he shrugged - sorry, I guess, if that’s disappointing to you. If _I’ve_ disappointed you.”

Mikoto frowned at him and opened her mouth to reply when the doorbell rang. Sasuke zipped his bag up and slung it over his shoulder saying, “That’s Itachi, so I gotta go. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Sasuke!” she called after him, but he was already down the hall and the last thing he wanted was to continue this conversation.

When Sasuke opened the front door and saw his brother he almost kissed him right there for getting him out of that awkward moment. “Remind me to kiss you later,” he whispered as Itachi waved at their mother from the doorway.

Itachi raised an eyebrow but just said, “Noted.”

He took Sasuke’s bag and put it in the trunk, and once they were both in the car, Itachi grabbed Sasuke’s hand and held it.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke said and then sighed, glancing at the house. “No, but it’s fine. Nothing new, I guess…”

“Well, I’m not going to push you to talk about it, but if you decide you want to, then I’m here, okay?”

Sasuke smiled and squeezed Itachi’s hand, already feeling a little better. “Okay,” he agreed as he let Itachi’s hand go so they could leave. Once they pulled out of the driveway, Itachi put his hand on Sasuke’s leg, and that was where it stayed for the next two hours.

When they were at a rest stop, halfway to Suna, Sasuke saw a couple in the middle of the parking lot fighting very animatedly and a thought from the other day came back to him as he watched one of the people walk away, clearly unhappy.

“Can I ask you something, Itachi?” he asked as they were walking back to the car. “As your boyfriend?”

It was still kinda weird to say it, but he was happy when he saw the smile that spread across Itachi’s face at the word. “Of course, whatever you waaa-on second thought--”

“No! You already said I could!” Sasuke cut him off as Itachi changed his mind when he saw the mischievous look on Sasuke’s face.

Sasuke leaned against the driver side door so Itachi couldn’t get back into the car. “I wanna know who you dated before me? If you’re my boyfriend, then I feel I should know. You know who I dated, if you want to call it that, so it’s only fair.”

“Fine, fine,” Itachi groaned. He rested against the hood of the car, accepting his fate. “If you really want to know--”

“I do!”

“--then shush, and I’ll tell you about _one_ of them,” Itachi tapped the back of his hand against Sasuke’s arm to quiet him. “His name was Deidara, he was from out of town and he’d been around for some school event. We were long distance for a few months and met up with each other a couple of times before I found out that he had a boyfriend back home. Courtesy of said boyfriend.”

Sasuke hissed softly in sympathy and then said, “That sucks, I’m sorry.” Itachi shrugged, seemingly unfazed. “Okay, so what about the other one?”

Without missing a beat, Itachi pushed himself away from the car and walked a few feet away, shaking his head. “Ah, no, that one I _really_ don’t want to talk about, Sasuke.”

“C’mon!” he begged, walking over and pouting at Itachi. “It’s not like I _care_ who it was, I just want to know.”

“But _I_ care,” Itachi replied. He wasn’t really focusing on Sasuke and it troubled him to see his brother looking so flighty. “It ended badly, which is definitely an understatement, and I…” he stopped and shook his head before continuing, “I can still barely stand to look at him.”

“Well, I’m really sorry about that,” Sasuke said, “but you’re really just making me want to know even more!” Itachi gave him a look that clearly meant that he shouldn’t push it, so Sasuke backed off half-heartedly. “Okay, okay, if you really, _really_ don’t want to tell me, then it’s okay. I understand.”

“I don’t,” Itachi said, but he didn’t go back to the car.

“Okay, that’s fine. It’s your business, after all.”

Itachi sighed and then leveled a look at Sasuke. “You get the guilt thing from mom, just so you know.”

“I’m aware,” Sasuke said with a half smile.

Itachi smiled back, but it was short lived. “Fine. It was Kakashi.”

“Like…” Sasuke tilted his head to the side. “My teacher Kakashi?”

“Mhm,” Itachi nodded.

“Wow, okay, I’m not going to say that it’s _weird_ , but…” Sasuke nodded his head to say that it was _totally_ weird. “When did you two...you know,” he waved his hand vaguely in the air, “date?”

“A couple of years ago,” Itachi said. “Shortly after I moved out. I was trying very hard at that point to distance myself from you. I’d hoped that dating someone would...get my mind off of you, I suppose.”

“Then what happened?”

Now it wasn’t playful curiosity that urged him to find out more. Sasuke had never really seen his brother as agitated as this before and it concerned him. His mind rushed with potential scenarios. Had Kakashi done something? Hurt him in some way? And how had Itachi been able to work in the same building with him all this time if he disliked him so much?

“Sasuke,” Itachi warned, his voice low. “Please. I really don’t want to answer that question.”

Sasuke took a slight step back, not expecting that but he held his hands up in surrender and nodded, serious this time. Itachi’s response had only made him more nervous about the situation, but he couldn’t force Itachi to tell him something. It wasn’t his place to do that; not as his brother or his boyfriend.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to,” he said.

He went over and wrapped his arms around Itachi’s waist, hugging him tightly, not caring if anyone came up and saw them. They were far enough outside of the village that they shouldn’t know anyone here anyway.

“I’m sorry for pushing,” he murmured against Itachi’s neck when he laid his head on Itachi’s shoulder.

Itachi hugged him back, holding him more tightly than he’d been expecting, but he could feel some of the tension in Itachi ease up as they stood there in their embrace. “It’s okay, Sasuke.”

“Still…” Sasuke whispered. He pressed a kiss to Itachi’s neck and smiled when Itachi kissed his head in response.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Sasuke hadn’t been sure what to expect when they got to Suna. He’d only heard a few things about it and that was mostly about the trade agreements with the village from school, so Sasuke was pleasantly surprised when Suna, more or less, reminded him of home. As long as home was kind of dry and desert-y, then yeah, definitely just like Konoha.

Itachi hadn’t told him anything about their plans for their trip, including where they were going to stay, so Sasuke wasn’t expecting to pull up to a one story house surrounded by trees that didn’t seem to necessarily belong in the climate. There were other houses around, but they had plenty of privacy.

“Wow,” Sasuke said when he got out of the car and grabbed his bag from the trunk.

“Not what you were expecting?”

“I mean, I was expecting a hotel.”

Itachi just shrugged and headed up to the door. He looked around briefly before he grabbed a rock off the ground and flipped it over, revealing a secret bottom of the, now obviously, fake rock. He grabbed the key out and put the rock back before opening the door.

“Wow,” Sasuke said again when they walked inside.

The ceilings were tall, at least eight or nine feet taller than either of them. The door opened up into the most open concept living/dining/kitchen area that Sasuke had ever seen that he thought his voice might echo through the whole house if he just stood in the right spot. He took off his shoes and walked around the living room section, sitting briefly on the couch to test its comfiness - it would do - before walking across to the fireplace. A TV was mounted on the wall, but Sasuke was looking at the generic pictures of different landscapes on the fireplace mantle.

“Does it even get cold enough around here to use this?” he wondered to himself, tapping his fingers on the mantle.

“In the winter, from what I read,” Itachi said as he stopped next to him. He wrapped an arm around Sasuke’s waist easily, comfortably, and just let his hand rest on Sasuke’s hip for a moment.

“I guess it’s a shame we’re still a few months from that then,” Sasuke said. He pulled away from Itachi, but grabbed his hand to lead him. “C’mon, I wanna see the rest of the house.”

The kitchen was next. “Coffee, tea, oh hey, there’s _food_ too!” Sasuke commented as he looked through the cabinets and checked the fridge, which was fully stocked.

Next they headed down the hallway on the right to find a bathroom and bedroom. Sasuke put his bag on the bed and looked around the room with his hands on his hips.

“Not too bad. I think they really went in on this color scheme though. I didn’t know there were so many shades of brown and orange.”

“Grab your bag,” Itachi said, nodding toward the bed.

“Why? Can’t this be my…” he trailed off as the thought hit him and he grabbed his bag and followed Itachi to the other hallway on the left, which ended in one huge room.

“I thought this would be _our_ room,” Itachi said pointedly.

Sasuke dropped his bag on the floor immediately after stepping inside. There was a huge bed in the middle of the room against the wall, easily big enough to fit at least five people, and a couch at the end of the bed where another two could comfortably nap.

Hanging on the wall opposite the bed and couch was a massive TV with some more decorative pictures hanging around it. There were two doors in the room aside from the one that they’d come in. One, Sasuke could see because it was already open, went to a closet that looked like it could have been another bedroom on its own.

The other door, Sasuke found out when he opened it, went to the fanciest bathroom he’d ever seen in his life, and was pretty sure he’d ever see again. Even aside from the muted browns and greys of the tile, Sasuke could admit he was impressed. Keeping with the theme from this side of the house in general, there was a bathtub that could have doubled for a pool, a shower encased completely in glass with three - _three!_ \- showerheads and a double vanity sink.

“Holy fuck,” Sasuke mouth at Itachi when he went back into the bedroom.

“Yeah, I figured this would be a little better for us,” Itachi said. He was already unpacking, seemingly unimpressed by the well, uh, _everything_ that this whole room was. “Or, by all means, if you’re more comfortable with it, you _can_ have your own room.”

“No!” Sasuke said quickly, too quickly not to seem desperate. Itachi looked over at him and smirked. “I mean,” he cleared his throat. Yeah, because _that_ would make up for it. “No, it’s fine. This is just _fine._ ”

“Hmm,” Itachi hummed, walking over and putting his hands on Sasuke’s hips, turning Sasuke around and guiding him backwards toward the bed. “I’d been hoping for something a little better than fine.”

“Oh? And what were you expecting?”

Sasuke’s knees hit the edge of the bed, but Itachi kept him up and balanced as he said, “Oh, I dunno. Some type of appreciation, I suppose. Maybe even a kiss?”

“Well, if you’re going to beg me,” Sasuke whispered, wrapping his arms around itachi’s neck. His brother was still a couple of inches taller than him, so he had to raise up just slightly to match their lips together. The kiss was short, teasing, asking for more.

“If I remember correctly,” Itachi said when Sasuke pulled away. “That was actually the kiss you owed me.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Sasuke said, acting like he’d just remembered. He pulled out of Itachi’s arms and turned to crawl on the bed, flopping on his back in the middle of it and looking back at Itachi askantly. “Then why don’t I give you something even better to show my appreciation?”

For a moment, Itachi didn’t respond, didn’t move, didn’t even look at him. Sasuke sat up and looked at Itachi with a concerned frown when he finally sat on the edge of the bed, leaning forward to hold his head in his hands.

“Is everything okay, Itachi?” Sasuke crawled closer and laid his hand on Itachi’s back.

Itachi moved to take his bun down and run his hands through his hair, gripping fistfuls of the strands tightly and pulling as he shook his head.

“Itachi, what’s wrong?” Sasuke asked, scooting close enough to press himself against his brother’s side in what he hoped was a comforting way. “You can talk to me if something’s bothering you.”

Itachi let go of his hair and his arms fell down to rest against his legs. He whispered, so quietly that Sasuke almost couldn’t hear him, “He wanted to be with you.”

“...What?” Sasuke swallowed loudly as he asked, afraid he already knew the answer.

Itachi shook his head again, but he was completely unreadable through the curtain of dark hair that hung around him. “Kakashi,” he answered. “That was what happened. He wanted to be with you, but I was close enough. Until I wasn’t.”

Sasuke rocked backward like he’d been slapped, his eyes widened as the realization set in. Kakashi had always played favorite’s with him, letting him get away with things no one else could, but Sasuke just thought that was because he was at the top of his class and didn’t really get into trouble. Not because...because...

“He… I…” Sasuke spluttered, trying to come up with a coherent response. He just ended up shaking his head instead.

“When I found out… When he _told me to my face_ … You were just turning sixteen, and I...I couldn’t…” Itachi paused and dug his nails into his palms as he clenched his fists. “I told him if he ever so much as _looked_ at you wrong, then I’d kill him where he stood.” Finally, Itachi looked at him. His hair hung in his face, but Sasuke could still clearly see the anger in his brother’s gaze. It wasn’t directed at him, rather the memory Sasuke was sure he must have been reliving as he spoke.

“As you can imagine,” Itachi said, “We haven’t really “talked” much since then.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke breathed. “No shit... How have you managed to work with him all this time?”

“Without being arrested for murder?” Itachi grinned slightly, sad and angry. “I couldn’t tell you, honestly. I just knew that staying there would let me keep an eye on him. Let me keep him away from you as best I could.”

Sasuke nodded. “You didn’t have to tell me, Itachi,” Sasuke finally said, reaching back out to rub his brother’s back. “I let it go.”

“Well, once you brought it up earlier, I _couldn’t_ let it go,” Itachi admitted, hanging his head again. “And I didn’t want that hanging over me--over _us_ this weekend.”

“I get that.”

“I’m sorry,” Itachi sighed.

“For what?” Sasuke asked.

Itachi laughed to himself and pushed his hair behind his ears. “I don’t even know.”

“Hey,” Sasuke grabbed Itachi’s hand in his and squeezed it, tugging him gently backward. Itachi went willingly, laying on his back. Sasuke fit himself against Itachi’s side and laid his head on his brother’s chest, wrapping his arm around Itachi’s waist firmly. “Talk if you want to, if it’ll make you feel better,” he said, rubbing his thumb in little circles on Itachi’s side.

“Just know that I’m here, and I’ll always be here, Itachi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it! The next chapter is going to be exciting, as major plot begins to happen, as well as just some other fun things! It'll be up in a few days once I finish editing it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! I had to rewrite a couple parts because I didn't like the way they were working, but it's here! Hope you guys enjoy!

“So, that’s what happened earlier?” Itachi asked when Sasuke mentioned that he’d gotten a few texts from their mother on their way to Suna, insisting that he wasn’t a disappointment to them. They were still laying on the bed, Itachi propped up on a pillow and Sasuke cuddled close to him with his head on his brother’s chest, enjoying Itachi’s fingers carding through his hair.

“Yeah,” he muttered, staring into the darkening room. “She started going on about college and when I told her I didn’t want to go, she turned the conversation to you and how much you loved college and--”

“I hated college,” Itachi scoffed quietly.

“You…” Sasuke rolled onto his back so his head was on Itachi's stomach and he was looking up at him curiously. “You did?”

Itachi nodded, laying his hand on Sasuke’s chest. “Yeah. I only went because mom and dad were pushing me and I just thought it was what I needed to do at the time. I was too young to know any better, but I was miserable. Why do you think I graduated so early?”

“Because you’re smart?” Sasuke said it like it was obvious.

“More like, because I wanted to get it over with,” Itachi answered. “I overloaded myself with extra classes and work just so I could finish. It...wasn’t a really good time in my life.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, trying to think back to when he was twelve and the times he would see Itachi. “You were always working on school work, but you...you seemed happy.”

Itachi shrugged, smiling almost sadly down at him. “I didn’t want you to see me any other way,” he admitted.

Sasuke stared at Itachi, almost studying him, feeling the way he breathed and the soft touch of his fingers tapping gently and distractedly against Sasuke’s chest and he wondered why his brother had allowed himself to be so miserable. “Why didn’t you just quit then?”

“I’d thought about it,” Itachi said, his voice was softer, far away. “But...where my mind was then…” Itachi sighed. “It wouldn’t have ended well.”

“Do you… What do you mean?”

Sasuke brought his hand up to cover Itachi’s on his chest and hold it, nervous that he already knew the answer to his question. Which was confirmed when Itachi gave him a knowing look, the corners of his mouth downturned in a frown.

His hand gripped Itachi’s harder than he probably should have at the confirmation, an empty feeling opening up in his chest that left him hollow even though he told himself over and over that Itachi was here. He was fine and he was _alive_.

But he hadn’t even known his brother was struggling, so how close had he been to losing Itachi?

“Why didn’t you ever...say something?” Sasuke asked slowly, his gaze intent on Itachi’s hand now as he moved to thread their fingers together.

“The same reason you gave mom. I thought I’d be disappointing all of you.”

Sasuke sat up at that, pulling his legs in close to him as he looked at Itachi seriously. “You could _never_ disappoint me.”

Itachi sat up as well, a small smile on his face. “You could never disappoint me either, Sasuke, and I’m sure, if you sit down and talk with them, mom and dad will understand. Even if it takes some time.”

Sasuke sighed. He saw Itachi’s point, but he just didn’t know how he was supposed to talk with them. Their mother had never been the best listener and their father...well, he wasn’t really around enough to talk to unless Itachi was scheduled to come over for dinner and then he didn’t seem too interested in whatever Sasuke was doing.

“I guess,” Sasuke said with a shrug.

“Just, whatever you do, don’t be like me,” Itachi said, giving Sasuke’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Don’t let this eat away at you until you feel like you’ve only got one way out. At the end of the day, the life you’re living is _yours_ , which is something I didn’t really realize until a couple of years ago. So spend your time doing things that make _you_ happy; not our parents.”

“What happened?”

“Hmm?”

“To make you realize it, what happened?” Sasuke asked.

“Well, ironically enough,” Itachi said, tilting his head to the side and half shrugging. “It was Kakashi.”

“Shut up,” Sasuke said, shaking his head. He couldn’t imagine much good coming out of what had happened between Itachi and Kakashi.

“No, it’s true. What happened made me come face to face with the fact that I’d felt a little more protective over you than I should have as your brother--”

“A little more?” Sasuke raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Itachi, you said you were going to _kill a man_ for creeping on me.”

Itachi rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. “Okay, maybe a lot more protective, but it _was_ creepy and I at least loved you,” he brought his hand up to Sasuke’s cheek and stroked it gently as he continued, “I _love_ you, and once I just accepted that and stopped trying to change myself, my quality of life improved pretty drastically.”

“I’m sure the murder fantasies also probably helped,” Sasuke teased.

“I’m not saying that they _didn’t_ ,” Itachi said, laughing and the sound made Sasuke smile. It had been strange to see Itachi so despondent before, but after talking about it and Sasuke’s reassurance that Itachi had ended up with him anyway, his mood had lifted and it made Sasuke happy.

“But seriously, Sasuke,” Itachi said, patting Sasuke’s knee, “Just do what makes you happy.”

“And if kissing you makes me happy?”

Itachi opened his arms up and said, “Then I’d suggest you come here.”

Sasuke pushed himself onto his knees and closed the distance between them, pushing Itachi down onto his back when he kissed back so Sasuke could get on top of him, straddling his waist. Itachi laughed into the kiss before licking his way into Sasuke’s mouth, exploring him as he held him close, hands roaming lower and lower until he was holding Sasuke by his hips. He smirked against Sasuke’s lips before canting his hips up, grinding slowly against Sasuke, making him pull away with a gasp.

Sasuke pressed his forehead to his brother’s as he caught his breath from the sudden jolt of pleasure, glaring at him playfully. “Okay, that’s just playing dirty,” Sasuke breathed between them, but he smiled.

“Are you complaining?” Itachi asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

“Not at all,” Sasuke said before kissing the corner of Itachi’s mouth. He pressed his hips down against Itachi’s this time, and both of them groaned when Itachi thrust back against him. Sasuke pressed a line of quick kisses along Itachi’s jaw to his ear, nipping at it before whispering hotly, “It’s just making me want you more.”

Itachi let out a shuddering breath at that and Sasuke’s skin felt electric as his own breathing came quicker and more shallow as their hips met again and again. He kissed Itachi, trying to press closer and feeling more desperate with every second, his pants growing more uncomfortable as Itachi set them at a steady pace rutting against each other.

A bright, hot feeling started building in him, but it was too fast, _too soon_ and Sasuke had to break away from Itachi, pressing his cheek to his brother’s. Heat radiated between them and Sasuke felt like he was close to suffocating in the best possible way.

“If you don’t stop,” he warned, “you’re gonna make me come.”

“That _was_ my goal,” Itachi chuckled, his voice was gravely and his breath was just as hot as the rest of him and it tickled Sasuke’s ear, making him shiver.

“No, that’s not fair,” Sasuke nearly whined, squeezing Itachi’s arm as he moved down just slightly so he could kiss and lick at Itachi’s neck. He smiled at the hitch in Itachi’s breath at his ministrations and bit down maybe a little less gently than he should have against his pounding pulse point, licking at the new mark on Itachi’s pristine skin when Itachi groaned and dug his fingers into Sasuke’s hip.

“What do you want then?” Itachi asked breathlessly.

Sasuke sat up and eyed Itachi intently as he reached down and grabbed the hem of his shirt before pulling it off over his head. He tossed his shirt behind him and ran one of his hands over his chest, watching Itachi’s eyes follow it down as he ghosted his fingers across his stomach. His own breath caught when he stopped at the sensitive skin at the hem of his pants.

“I want _you_ , Itachi,” he said quietly, letting his fingers work to undo the button of his pants as his heart beat loudly in his chest, making his ears ring. Itachi took in a deep breath when Sasuke started to unzip his pants, his eyes trained on Sasuke’s fingers like he was trying to urge them to continue down with his mind. Instead, Sasuke stopped mid-way, smirking when he saw Itachi bite his lip and look up at him expectantly.

“All of you,” Sasuke continued, slipping his hands under Itachi’s shirt and pushing it up slowly, exposing inch after inch of his mesmerizingly perfect skin until he could feel Itachi’s heart thundering underneath his fingers. He leaned down, making Itachi hiss softly when he swept a thumb across one of his nipples as Sasuke hovered over him, their lips brushing together as Sasuke looked at Itachi through half-lidded eyes and whispered, “I want you inside me, Itachi. _Please_.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Itachi groaned, closing his eyes.

Sasuke smiled deviously and pecked him on the lips. “That’s the idea.”

Before any more snarky comments came out, Itachi grabbed the back of Sasuke’s neck and pulled him into a bruising kiss that was all teeth and tongues and dominance that Sasuke almost immediately gave over to, melting against Itachi and letting him take what he wanted.

He was rewarded when Itachi flipped their positions, leaving Sasuke on his back in the middle of the bed with Itachi’s hands working his pants and boxers down off his hips, freeing his trapped erection and leaving him completely exposed to his brother’s roaming and appreciative gaze as Itachi stood up and peeled his shirt off.

Itachi reached down to undo his pants, saying as he did, “Get on your hands and knees, Sasuke.”

Sasuke did as he was told, turning over slowly and fighting back a blush of embarrassment from suddenly being in such an exposed position for the first time. He trusted that Itachi knew what was best though and waited, listening to Itachi’s bare feet padding across the room and then back after digging through his bag for something.

Another moment later, Sasuke felt the bed shift under Itachi’s weight and he waited apprehensively for Itachi to do or say something. When he finally thought nothing was going to happen, Sasuke started to look back and see what Itachi was waiting for, but before he could he gasped, dropping his head when Itachi took his ass cheeks in hand and squeezed them firmly.

“Is this your first time?”

“Mhm,” Sasuke hummed quietly, nodding even though Itachi probably couldn’t see it.

“It’ll hurt,” Itachi warned him, his voice sounding almost distracted. “But I promise it’ll get better.”

“I just want you, Itachi,” he whispered, “ _Please_.”

Without another word or warning, Itachi pulled Sasuke’s cheeks apart, exposing his hole for a moment before something warm and wet and _good_ was covering it, licking slow, teasing circles around his entrance, making it twitch. Sasuke gasped loudly, his brain rushing to try and piece together what was suddenly happening as his body moved back against the foreign appendage, searching and trying to get more of it.

There was a quick flick and then a firmer press against his opening that made his breath stutter and dropped Sasuke onto his elbows as Itachi’s tongue pushed past the first ring of muscles, licking around him slowly before removing his tongue long enough to make Sasuke whine before delving back inside. The pace was erratic and maddeningly, turning Sasuke into a panting, moaning mess, his blood feeling like fire in his veins until he finally felt desperate enough to reach for his weeping cock.

“Be patient,” Itachi’s pulled away from him to say, leaving his hole feeling cold and empty, waiting and wanting and _needing_ to be filled.

“Then... _stop_...teasing me,” he finally managed to get out, moving his hand back onto the pillow he was bracing himself on, his heart slowly calming its thunderous beating in his ears.

The hands left him completely and then a cap clicked open in response, followed by a squirting of some liquid before he felt something else, something new prodding questioningly against him. Sasuke pressed back against the digit greedily, wanting it inside him before he lost his mind, but Itachi pulled his finger away.

“If you need me to stop--”

“I’ll tell you, I promise,” Sasuke all but cried from frustration. “Just please, _do it already_.”

The finger returned with more pressure behind it and Sasuke’s body accepted it easily, a thrum of pleasure buzzing through him as it pushed slowly farther into him than Itachi’s tongue had gone. And aside from feeling slightly strange, it didn’t hurt at all, so after Itachi thrust the single digit in and out of him a few times, Sasuke was ready for more and pushed back against him, urging him to add another finger.

He only had to wait a moment before he heard the squirting of the lube and then hissed as Itachi had dribbling it directly down his crack so it slipped down, dripping down onto Itachi’s fingers and his balls as Itachi pulled the first finger out before working it back inside him with a second. He immediately felt more full, even before Itachi’s fingers were completely inside of him, and his body hummed in satisfaction at the feeling.

When the third finger came, it hurt. More than Sasuke had thought it would and he grunted in pain when his haze of pleasure was immediately forgotten, but to Itachi’s credit (and Sasuke’s sanity) he didn’t stop preparing him, trusting that Sasuke would tell him to stop if he needed to.

“Can you hold yourself apart for me?” Itachi asked him, his free hand squeezing his cheek so there was no confusion as to what he meant. The idea of being so completely vulnerable made Sasuke flush and despite the pain, a tight, hot coil of desire shot to his flagging erection and Sasuke bit his lower lip hard as he did as his brother asked.

He lowered himself to rest completely on the pillow, his head turned to the side so he could see Itachi behind him out of the corner of his eye. He reached back, taking both of his cheeks in hand and spread himself open, crying out as the adjustment allowed Itachi’s fingers to slip deeper into him, in turn putting a hot, sweet pressure against _something_ inside him that made him see white.

“Do _that_ again,” he panted as Itachi pulled his fingers out and thrust them back in a few times and Sasuke rocked back to meet him in hopes of getting his brother’s fingers even remotely near that spot again.

“Be patient,” Itachi chided him again as he removed his fingers, much to Sasuke’s very vocal displeasure, but then he heard Itachi squirt out more lube and quieted himself.

A tingle of excitement spread through Sasuke as he heard Itachi slick his cock before the fingers were back at his swollen entrance, rubbing more lube against him just for good measure. It only lasted a moment before Itachi shifted behind him, laying a hand gently on his hip before he felt the head of Itachi’s cock start pressing into him.

Gasping and groaning, Sasuke wanted to pull away and rock back against his brother all at once. The fingers had been good, an introduction, but Itachi’s cock felt _huge_ as he pushed deeper inside him, making his hole and insides burn from the stretch.

Eventually, _mercifully_ , Itachi filled him completely, which meant that he stopped moving and Sasuke could catch his breath.

“Are you okay?” Itachi’s voice was a strained, hoarse whisper. He could hear the soft pants his brother made as he probably fought the urge to just fuck him wildly.

Sasuke managed to nod jerkily. “Just...give me...a second.”

Itachi made an affirmative noise and they both stayed still for a long moment as Sasuke got used to the feeling of Itachi inside of him. After a minute he was able to will himself to relax and took a deep breath before nodding again to tell Itachi it was okay to move. Instead of pulling out of him though, Itachi moved his hand around to grip Sasuke’s cock and stroke him slowly back to hardness.

It didn’t take long for the pleasure to overtake a majority of the pain, and when it did, Sasuke pressed back against Itachi and grunted, “Move.”

There was no hesitation this time. Itachi gripped both of Sasuke’s hips to steady himself and slowly pulled out, leaving just the tip of his cock inside Sasuke before pushing back in. His next thrust wasn’t as slow, and by the next one Sasuke was rocking back to meet him, small gasps and mewls falling from his lips as Itachi filled him again and again.

Then one of them shifted enough that Itachi’s cock rubbed against that spot, making Sasuke cry out from the unexpected, welcome pleasure, his brother’s name a breathless whisper on his lips as his limbs started to shake.

Itachi quickened his pace, his hips hammering faster and harder into Sasuke, encouraged by his continued moans. His fingers dug into Sasuke’s hips almost painfully as he took him and Sasuke knew - _hoped_ \- that he would bruise. He wanted Itachi to mark his whole body, to paint his skin with his fingerprints as proof that Sasuke belonged to him and only him.

“Harder,” Sasuke groaned at the thought. His cock twitched and bobbed obscenely between his legs, dripping pre-come onto the blanket beneath him as Itachi drove into him harder, driving against his prostate again. He gasped out a curse as his vision whited out again and he felt Itachi start to lose control of his rhythm, quickly becoming more desperate and frantic as they both drew close to their climax.

Sasuke fisted the pillow underneath him as he finally reached for his aching cock, stroking himself quickly and sloppily, just searching for his release.

“I-Itachi…” he panted, begging, “Fuck me harder.”

Itachi groaned behind him and moved one of his hands to grab Sasuke’s shoulder, getting a new angle and pressing himself almost flush against Sasuke’s back as he fucked deeper into him. His thrusts became erratic, barely pulling out before slamming back into the willing body beneath him, searching to go deeper and deeper.

“Come for me, Sasuke,” Itachi finally growled against his shoulder blade, biting down on the tender flesh and making Sasuke cry out as he came hard all over himself and the bed. His muscles spasmed over and over as he rode his orgasm, Itachi’s name spilling from his mouth like a prayer.

With one last thrust, Itachi buried himself deep inside Sasuke and came with a groan, his seed burning Sasuke’s insides and making his cock jump with a final wave of lust. Itachi thrust lazily into him a couple more times, milking the rest of his orgasm before he pulled out of Sasuke and flopped on the bed next to him with a satisfied sigh.

After a moment, Sasuke turned back over, feeling Itachi’s come leak out of him to mix with his own on the bed. He scooted closer to Itachi and groaned, both in complete satisfaction and because he could already feel his body starting to ache. He tried not to pay the pain too much mind though; it had been more than worth it.

“Well,” Sasuke finally said, once he was sure his voice would work. “That was fantastic.”

“Agreed,” Itachi said, looking over at Sasuke with a grin.

Sasuke turned onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow and laid his other hand on Itachi’s chest, feeling the sweat on his skin, cold and sticky.

“Worth the wait, I hope?” Sasuke asked, part of him playful but the other part curious. Itachi _had_ been pining after him for a while, after all.

“I would have waited my entire life for you, Sasuke,” Itachi said, reaching up to run his fingers through Sasuke’s hair. “And not just for the sex.”

“Though it is a fun perk,” Sasuke added with a laugh.

Itachi laughed too, “I won’t argue with you there.”

Sasuke smiled and laid his head on Itachi’s chest, drawing little shapes across his skin as a deep feeling of contentment settled in his bones. He felt happy and complete in a way he’d never thought imaginable, and he hoped Itachi felt it too.

“I love you,” he whispered into the quiet between them, laying his hand flat against Itachi’s heartbeat. He felt it quicken just slightly and looked up to see a large smile spread across Itachi’s lips.

“What was that?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pinched at Itachi’s side playfully, but said it again, “I love you, Itachi.”

When Sasuke woke up in the morning, he rolled onto his back and immediately groaned from the deep, dull ache that ran through his body.

“You’ve been making that same noise for the last thirty minutes,” Itachi’s amused voice came from beside him. Sasuke looked over and saw him reading on his e-reader, but Itachi turned and smiled at him when he saw Sasuke watching him. “Good morning, by the way.”

“Ugh,” Sasuke groaned again, scrubbing his hands over his face. “How long have you been up?”

“About an hour,” Itachi answered, putting his e-reader down on the bedside table to give Sasuke his full attention.

“Gross,” Sasuke scoffed. “It’s too early.”

“It’s almost ten,” Itachi replied.

“Still too early!” Sasuke chimed, taking a deep breath before he turned over, his back facing Itachi. He was proud of the fact that he held back the groan of pain this time.

“C’mon,” Itachi said, shifting on the bed behind him. “I thought we could go out today.” He wrapped his arm around Sasuke’s waist and pulled him to his chest, and despite how tired he was Sasuke let out a soft moan at the hot pulse of desire that raced through him when he felt his brother’s naked body against him.

“But the bed’s comfy, Itachi,” Sasuke argued, adding, “and you’re warm,” as he pressed himself closer to Itachi and sighed in content.

“I wanted to take you on a date though,” Itachi tried to reason with him, kissing the tip of Sasuke’s ear as he smiled and whispered, “ _Our first date_.”

“That does sound nice…” Sasuke admitted, his sleepy haze lifting as he traced little patterns on Itachi’s arm.

“If you still need an extra incentive to get out of bed,” Itachi said as he kissed behind Sasuke’s ear, then trailed another few kisses down his neck when Sasuke tilted his head to give him access. “I’m more than happy to make it worth your while.”

“Hmm,” Sasuke hummed happily, “And how do you plan to do that?”

Sasuke felt Itachi smile against his neck before a sudden wave of pleasure ripped a moan from Sasuke’s throat when Itachi reached down to take his cock in hand, stroking him slowly as he sunk his teeth into the sensitive juncture where his neck met his shoulder.

“I...ta-chi…” Sasuke gasped out, reaching back to dig his nails into Itachi’s hip as he jerked his hips forward.

As quickly as Itachi’s teasing started, it stopped and he pulled away from Sasuke completely, leaving him a panting and slightly angry mess in the middle of the bed. He turned around to glare at Itachi, hissing quietly in pain but Itachi captured his lips in a quick kiss and grinned at him when he pulled away.

“I’ll be in the shower, if you’d like to join me,” Itachi said playfully before getting up and heading into the bathroom, looking back at Sasuke before he disappeared to make sure he was watching him go.

It took him a minute longer than it should have to get up, but Sasuke followed him as quickly as he could.

An hour later, after their foray in the shower and breakfast, they pulled up to a place called the Singing Gardens. Which, even though Sasuke had made fun of the name on the way over, he had to admit as they walked through the gate, seemed pretty cool.

There were colorful rock formations everywhere, some of them easily ten feet tall while others only came up to his knee, but they all had one thing in common: there were holes right through them. Some were small, but others were as large as a fist, which Sasuke found out when he decided to put his hand through one when they stopped at a plaque.

“It says these were here when Suna was founded. They used to be a part of the manor that stood here one, nicknamed _The Moaning Manor_ \--”

“Creative name,” Sasuke commented when he came to stand next to Itachi after he finished examining the rock, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together as he leaned against him.

“Right?” Itachi looked over at him and kissed his head before turning back to the plaque. “Anyway, nicknamed that because of the eerie sounds coming from the rock garden, which sounded like people crying. The owner died and after fifty years, they tore the manor down, but the daughter of the Kazekage at that time loved the sound of the garden so much that he kept it for her. Supposedly, there is a bench around here where she used to spend a lot of her time.”

“Why don’t we have anything like this in Konoha?” Sasuke asked.

“Do you mean singing rock gardens or potentially haunted places?” Itachi replied as he started walking down the path.

“Either? Both? We don’t have anything _interesting_ in the village.”

“Remind me to take you to the Forest of Death sometime,” Itachi said. Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what the heck that even was when they turned a corner and Itachi’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Look, Sasuke, what do you think they’re doing over there?”

There were covered booths set up about fifty feet away in a clearing off the path, but it wasn’t really clear what was going on until they got closer and saw a sign that read, _Craft and Farmers Market. Today Only!_

They walked through the rows of booths hand in hand, marveling here and there at some of the things they saw. There were huge metal sculptures, handcrafted toys and clothes, custom made jewelry and booth after booth filled with paintings from different artists. Finally they came to one that Itachi took a particular interest in when he saw a puppet of a weasel hanging by its strings, the detailing so intricate that Sasuke jumped when he saw it because he thought it was real.

“I’ve never seen something like this before,” Itachi whispered as he reached out to touch it.

“My granny makes them,” a gruff voice said, drawing their attention deeper inside the booth where a red-head who was probably about Sasuke's age was walking over to them. “She’s been making puppets for forty years or so. It’s something of a family trade.”

“Have you made any?” Itachi asked curiously as he looked at some of the other puppets nearby them.

The red-head chuckled and shook his head. “Not a chance; that’s more of my brother’s thing, I’m just here helping out for the day.”

“Well please tell her that I’m very impressed with her work.” The red-head nodded and Itachi pointed out another puppet to Sasuke as they turned to leave, saying, “Isn’t that one cool, Sasuke?”

“Wait.”

They turned back around and waited for what the red-head had to say, but he closed his mouth as he eyed Sasuke for a moment, his previously friendly gaze now vacant and searching as he studied him.

“Did you need something?” Sasuke asked.

The red-head tilted his head and Sasuke watched his eyes dart down to where his hand was linked with Itachi’s. It was the briefest of glances, but Itachi seemed to have caught it as well since he let go of his hand to wrap his arm around Sasuke’s waist instead, pulling him close to his side.

“Uh… No, sorry. Have a nice day,” the red-head said, shaking his head.

“That was weird,” Sasuke noted when they went to the next booth which was selling some local fruit.

“Just a _little_ ,” Itachi agreed, glancing back over his shoulder before picking up an avocado.

Sasuke looked back as well, narrowing his eyes when he saw the red-head looking at him with his phone in his hand. He saw Sasuke watching him, but didn’t turn his eyes away or even look remotely guilty; he held Sasuke’s gaze for another moment before looking down at his phone and quickly typing something.

“Do you think we could go back to the garden?” Sasuke asked distractedly when the red-head looked up at him again. He suddenly felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to ruin their date altogether by just asking if they could leave.

“Oh, sure,” Itachi said. He looked over at Sasuke and saw him glancing back at the other booth repeatedly. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah… I just,” he paused and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Itachi pulled him close and caressed his cheek, saying, “Don’t worry about it, Sasuke. He’s the one with the problem if he can’t stand seeing two guys holding hands.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure if that was what was nagging at him or not, but he quickly forgot about it when Itachi kissed him before leading him back onto the path and deeper into the garden.

They stayed for a few hours and then left to have a late lunch at a little cafe on the other side of town (the original village before it was expanded, according to Itachi) where the buildings changed to more squat, spherical structures that were a brownish-orange in appearance. After they finished lunch, Itachi’s eye caught a bookstore across the street and he all but pulled Sasuke over to it.

“I just want to check and see if they have it,” Itachi mumbled to himself excitedly as he went inside, leaving Sasuke standing outside for a moment when something caught his eye at the end of the row of buildings where a car was parked.

A shock of red.

His mind immediately went back to the guy at the booth and he started to take a step in the direction of the red, but Itachi popped back out from the bookstore and tugged on Sasuke’s hand, drawing his attention back.

“Are you coming, Sasuke?”

Sasuke glanced back down the row, but the red was gone. He shook his head and followed Itachi into the bookstore.

Twenty minutes and an armful of books later, they left the bookstore and headed down the rest of the row of shops. They passed a little ice cream parlor, a candle shop and a jeweler along with a couple of other specialty stores that they checked out for a few moments before they reached the last shop on the row.

“Let me know if you need anything!” the blond shop girl called from behind the counter when they walked in, not looking up from her phone.

The shop was brightly lit and cheerful, with clothes and posters all over the walls and little gimmicky items crammed onto every available surface. It was so much to look at that Sasuke’s eyes had a hard time focusing.

“Hey! I found you a new shirt,” Itachi said, pointing at a dark red shirt pinned to the wall with _Suna University_ emblazoned on the front. “Mom would be thrilled if you brought this home.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “You must think you’re the pinnacle of hilarity.”

“I mean, if the shirt fits,” Itachi grinned and shrugged.

“Yeah, well,” Sasuke looked around at a couple of the racks next to him. Smiling sweetly when he grabbed a shirt and handed it to Itachi. “Here’s one for you, too.”

Itachi looked down at it and laughed. It was a white shirt with a bright pink unicorn standing on its hind legs under a rainbow. He put it up to his chest like he was modeling it.

“You know, the joke’s on you, actually,” he said. “As I happen to _love_ unicorns, specifically pink ones, and also rainbows.”

“Well I’ll just have to get this for you then!” Sasuke exclaimed, challenging him with a smirk. “Then you can wear it aaall around the village.”

Almost immediately, Itachi handed back the shirt with a look of mock hurt on his face. “Unfortunately, white just isn’t my color, so I’ll have to say no.”

“Hold on now,” Sasuke said, hanging the shirt back up before rifling through the rack. “I’m sure they have another col--”

Sasuke was cut off as Itachi pulled him close and kissed him, pressing him up against a shelf filled with more shirts. Sasuke gasped at the sudden contact, allowing Itachi’s tongue into his mouth. Their tongues slid together and Sasuke could taste the tea that Itachi had accepted from the bookstore clerk. He moaned and wrapped his arms around Itachi’s neck just before his brother pulled away.

“Why don’t we head back?” Itachi suggested.

“Yes, please,” Sasuke whispered breathlessly. He let Itachi lead him through the door, saying, “But don’t think I’m gonna forget about that shirt!”

“Did you get everything brought in? It’s almost my break time,” the girl at the counter said once Itachi and Sasuke left. When she got no response, she put her phone down and stared at the door to her left.

“Gaara, I know you hear me,” she said louder.

“Alright, Temari,” the door opened and a red-head came through the door, running a hand through his hair. “Chill out.”

“You got everything brought in, right? You know Granny doesn’t like it when we leave her puppets out in the heat.”

“Do you see a mass of boxes out front anymore? Yes, they’re in. Go on break already so I can get back to hanging everything up. Just because Kankuro isn’t here doesn’t mean you can put all your work on me today. I already spent my whole afternoon at the booth.”

“Shut it, little brother,” Temari said. She ruffled Gaara’s hair as she passed him. “I’ll be back in twenty.

Gaara rolled his eyes, but took Temari’s spot behind the counter and pulled his phone out, checking his texts again. His anxiety was high enough right now without waiting for a response. He clicked on his conversation thread with Naruto and scrolled up to read through all the messages that he’d sent in the last few hours.

_“Your boyfriend, his name’s Sasuke, right?”_

_“Ex, as of a few days ago, but yeah.”_

_“Wow, that was… Man, I’m sorry.”_

_“Yeah... What’s going on?”_

_“I just thought I ran into him here in town. I know I’ve only seen a couple of pictures, but… Maybe I’m just imagining things.”_

_“No, Sakura told me he was going to Suna for the weekend with his brother.”_

_“Yeeeah… I hate to tell you, but I don’t think it’s his brother he’s here with.”_

_“...What?”_

_“I mean, I saw them kissing and holding hands and stuff where we had Granny’s booth this weekend… Not super brotherly, unless Kankuro just doesn’t like me that much.”_

_“I know it’s weird, but...is there any way you could get a pic of the two of them? Sasuke said there wasn’t anyone else when he broke up with me…”_

_“It’s definitely weird, but...sure… They’re still here anyway.”_

He’d sent the photo he’d snapped when the two had been leaving from the booth across from his. The picture could have been better, but he’d been snapping kind of quickly since he couldn’t leave to follow them and get a better picture. He could make out both people in the picture though, and hoped that’d be good enough when he sent it.

It had been a few hours and Naruto hadn’t said anything though. Gaara was starting to worry. He wasn’t sure why, because no news was supposedly the best news, but Naruto had never purposefully been quiet for this long before.

Suddenly, something appeared on his screen and Gaara sighed in relief as he saw three dots at the bottom of their conversation, indicating that Naruto was typing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took a bit! This chapter and I had a bit of a fight, but I am so, _so_ happy with how this turned out. So I hope you all enjoy it as well!!!

Naruto stared at his phone, at the message from Gaara, the _picture_ that he was still trying to make sense of. He’d been trying for hours now since Gaara sent it to him, but it still didn’t sit right in his mind. It felt like there _had_ to be something missing. Something that could be easily explained.

Because there was no way Gaara was right.

Sure, it _was_ Sasuke and Itachi, but the picture was innocent. They were just at some booth, so there was no reason for Naruto to wonder if they were standing too close to one another, or if Sasuke’s hand was on Itachi’s arm with a little too much familiarity as he pointed out something to him.

Naruto shook his head at the thought. They were brothers! Of course they were close and _of course_ they were familiar with each other! They had been before Itachi’s mysterious near disappearance from Sasuke’s life, and it was normal that things would change back so quickly when Itachi casually re-inserted himself.

“Right?” Naruto whispered to himself, putting his phone down and standing up from his bed for the third time. Or was it the fourth? He couldn’t keep up anymore. He’d been trying to go to sleep for over an hour...or maybe it’d been longer, to be honest he wasn’t even sure what time it was anymore, but every time that he shut his eyes he could just see that picture in his mind and then he couldn’t stop the dozens of thoughts that came after.

Was Gaara right? Had Sasuke lied to him? What happened after Gaara took the picture? _Had_ Sasuke been kissing Itachi, like Gaara claimed to have seen? Were they actually... _actually_ …?

Naruto rubbed his hand over his face, hoping to wipe all the thoughts from his mind so he could have some peace and quiet for a minute, but it didn’t help. He was stuck pacing around his small room, biting and picking unconsciously at his nails as he tried to breathe, tried to make sense - once again - of the little information he had.

He went down the list.

One. It wasn’t even a decent picture. Gaara had admitted to that much after taking it, so maybe it looked like Sasuke’s hand on Itachi’s arm, but also... _maybe_ it wasn’t?

“Okay, okay, that argument’s kinda weak,” he admitted to himself as he worried what was left of his thumbnail between his teeth, noting vaguely that it was starting to hurt after biting so far down. He moved on to the next point.

Two. Sasuke wouldn’t lie to him. He just _wouldn’t_. Naruto knew that; they’d been friends for years and he trusted Sasuke. _Trusted_ that Sasuke would always be open and honest with him, so if Sasuke said there wasn’t anyone else when Naruto had asked him, point blank, then what real reason did he have to doubt his friend?

Never mind the fact that things hadn’t worked out for them and yeah, maybe that made things a little more awkward than Naruto would have liked, but it definitely didn’t mean that Sasuke would have broken up with him for Itachi.

His own _brother_.

But then there was point three, and three was a big one. A nerve-wracking one. The one that made Naruto bite his lip so hard that he tasted his own blood.

He trusted Gaara, too.

“Fuck…” Naruto whispered breathlessly into the quiet of his room as he came to the same conclusion he had the other three or four times he’d gone through this list.

Four. Gaara had nothing to gain by telling Naruto what he may - or may not, because that _was_ still a possibility - have seen.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had everything to gain by lying.

Naruto ran a shaking hand through his hair, trying - _hoping_ \- he could come up with another argument that would clear Sasuke’s name in his mind, but every time he tried…

“Fuck, fuck…”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Sasuke gasped as he felt Itachi’s cock slide out of him when he moved off his brother’s lap to lay against his side. Itachi immediately wrapped his arms around him and pulled Sasuke as close as he could until Sasuke’s head was tucked into the crook of his neck.

“I love you,” Itachi mumbled as he pressed a few kisses to Sasuke’s head.

“I love you, too,” Sasuke said with a smile, feeling sated and satisfied despite the undercurrent of desperation and sadness that he’d been fighting since he’d woken up this morning and noted that it was Sunday.

“Are you really, really sure that we need to go back home, Itachi?” he asked, not for the first time. “Because right now, I’m more than happy to vote no.”

He could feel Itachi smile against his scalp in amusement and closed his eyes in content when he heard Itachi’s deep voice reverberating against his ear, “Should I just tell everyone I decided to kidnap you?”

“I mean, it sounds pretty reasonable to me, don’t you think?”

Itachi hummed thoughtfully and ran his fingers up and down over Sasuke’s arm, making a warm, pleasant feeling tingle along his spine. Led on by the feeling, Sasuke let his mind wander through the possibility of Itachi doing just what he’d said. Of the two of them just leaving everything they’d known behind just to stay here. Stay together, like this, forever.

If they only had a bit more time, a bit more freedom. Just a little bit more...

“Do you think dad would pay a ransom for you?”

“I think it’s _at least_ worth a try,” Sasuke said, laughing quietly to himself as he tapped his fingers against Itachi’s chest for emphasis. The fantasy was gone just as quickly as it had come and the only thing Sasuke could do now was feel his brother’s warmth against him, trying to commit every breath Itachi made to his memory before he conceded to reality, “But they’d probably find us pretty easily since we told them where we’d be.”

“That might make it a little difficult to get away with it, I agree.”

Sasuke couldn’t help the disappointed sigh that heaved from his chest.

“Going home won’t be all bad,” Itachi said, but Sasuke could hear the same lack of optimism in his brother’s voice even as Itachi tried to convince him.

“I know,” Sasuke said, pushing himself up to rest on his elbow so he could look at Itachi and press a quick kiss against his jaw. “I’m just gonna miss this, you know.”

“I _do_ have a bed at home,” Itachi said with a smirk. “And a couch, so I think we could still--.”

“Shut up!” Sasuke swatted at Itachi’s side even though he was grinning, fun and love and happiness overtaking him again because that was just what Itachi could do to him. “You know what I meant! I’m going to miss being with you, _outside_ of a bedroom… Although, I do have to admit--”

“The sex is fantastic?” Itachi offered.

“Fucking _amazing!_ ” Sasuke groaned happily, resting his forehead against Itachi’s shoulder for a brief moment before he looked up again and quickly added, “Don’t let that go to your head though.”

“It’s definitely too late for that,” Itachi said, pushing Sasuke onto his back before he kissed him. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Itachi’s neck and pulled him close, sighing happily when Itachi moved to kiss his neck and collarbone softly.

“I’ll miss this, too,” Itachi whispered quietly in between kisses.

Sasuke sucked in a quick, harsh breath and felt his chest constrict as emotion overwhelmed him again. Itachi looked at him, a whole host of things unsaid between them, rushing through Sasuke’s mind as hopes and dreams that he wished he could do something more about right now.

But since he couldn’t, he put both his hands on Itachi’s cheeks and just watched him for a second before he said, “I’m going to miss _you_.”

Itachi’s lips twitched up into a smile and it almost reached his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know.”

And he did. Of course, Itachi wasn’t going anywhere. _He_ wasn’t going anywhere either, but it didn’t make his feeling any less real.

It didn’t make him any less sad that this was ending. This strange, wonderful, almost magical weekend that they’d had. This moment to actually be what and who they were, just two people who loved each other in a place where nothing else mattered, especially not the fact that they shared the same blood.

“You were right,” Sasuke said with a pitiful laugh.

“About what?”

“It’s not the same,” he whispered, trailing his fingers slowly and gently down along Itachi’s jaw and neck as he looked at Sasuke slightly confused. He elaborated, “You said the other day that it wasn’t the same, going out together in the village versus something like...this, like what we’ve had this weekend. And you’re right… It’s more difficult than I’d imagined to think about not being close to you whenever I want.”

“It--”

Sasuke shook his head to silence Itachi and smiled sadly just as another thought punched him in the gut and made him feel sick. “How am I supposed to sleep without you next to me tonight?”

Itachi surged forward and kissed him hard. Sasuke kissed back and one of Itachi’s hands found the nape of his neck, so gentle in contrast to the desperation they both felt as they held onto the last moments they had to really be together in the ways they both wanted.

“How long is it until you graduate?” Itachi asked breathlessly when he pulled away, his eyes were still closed as he leaned his forehead against Sasuke’s.

“Fifteen days,” Sasuke answered automatically.

“Then in fifteen days, you’re free to leave home,” Itachi replied, his voice sure like he’d made up his mind about something as he opened his eyes to look at Sasuke

“Well yeah, but where would I…” Sasuke stopped himself and his eyes widened. His heart started up double time in his chest, both excited but extremely nervous.

Was Itachi…?

“You can move in with me,” Itachi said easily. Said it just like it was the most obvious thing to do in the world. And maybe it was.

“I… Itachi, you--I mean, _we_ \--”

“Have known each other for a lifetime, Sasuke,” Itachi said reasonably through Sasuke’s floundering. “What we are now doesn’t take that away, and I don’t want to be away from you any more than I have to.”

A shiver ran down Sasuke’s spine and he suddenly felt more exposed than his nakedness made him, but it wasn’t bad. He felt vulnerable underneath Itachi, felt raw at the possibility of what Itachi was offering him - _them_. He felt too many things that made his head spin, but when he looked into Itachi’s eyes the thoughts quieted. The flood fell away.

He was safe. He was loved. And he loved Itachi back just as much. Those were the things that mattered.

“Okay,” he breathed, nodding his head slightly, quickly.

Itachi smiled above him, it was bright and made Sasuke smile too, the pain that had started to overtake every beat of his heart lessening under his brother’s incredible smile.

“Okay?” Itachi asked.

Sasuke nodded again and laughed, his smile widening even further. He felt positively giddy now and couldn’t help when it bubbled out of him and he kissed Itachi over and over again.

“Yes, _yes!_ ”

“Yeah, that _does_ sound fun, Kiba, but I just don’t think--”

“No, Naruto, _that’s_ the beauty of it,” Kiba interrupted when he finished slurping up the noodles from his chopsticks, turning to look over at Naruto excitedly. “You don’t have to think! Just do! You’re the master of pranks and this one is perfect to end our high school career.”

Naruto nodded blankly as Kiba kept talking next to him, and he wondered - not for the first time - why he’d decided to come out when Kiba invited him. There were probably better things he could be doing right now.

Okay, maybe better wasn’t the best word… More like obsessive.

But was it really obsessive? After all, he’d been able to get some sleep last night! Granted, it had actually been this morning around ten o’clock and had only been about forty-five minutes before Kiba had called him to beg him to come out this afternoon. It had been sleep though, and that’s really what mattered here, right?

“You okay, Naruto?” Kiba asked, waving his hand in front of Naruto’s face to get his attention. “You seem a little...distracted?”

“I’m fine, Kiba,” Naruto immediately answered, and if he tried really hard, it was almost true. And that also had to count for something, surely.

“Uh-huh,” Kiba intoned, nodding slowly as he eyed Naruto. “Because you actually haven’t eaten and well--”

“I’m fine,” he repeated, maybe a little harsher than he’d meant as he broke his chopsticks to make a point. He saw Kiba nod again from the corner of his eye as he forced himself to at least eat something, even if his ramen was nearly cold and for the first time in his life it didn’t taste good.

“Hey, hey, there’s Neji!” Kiba said, nudging Naruto slightly before he poked his head out and waved Neji over, mumbling something quietly to him before they stepped inside. Neji came over and sat down next to him as Kiba tossed some money down next to his mostly finished ramen.

“I told Neji about the prank, so you guys can go over the details. I, uh, gotta head out.”

They both watched as Kiba high tailed it out of Ichiraku, leaving them alone and Naruto even more annoyed that he’d let Kiba drag him out. How was he supposed to figure out what was going on between Sasuke and Itachi if he couldn’t even be left alone to think? To figure out what he could do to even talk to his boyfri--

_Stop that!_ Naruto chided himself. _He’s not your boyfriend. Not anymore._

“He didn’t tell me about any prank,” Neji admitted after Kiba left, drawing Naruto’s attention. “But he did ask me to talk to you.”

“I have a feeling that he didn’t want you to tell me that you’re here to make me feel better,” Naruto said dryly, but he appreciated Neji’s honesty at the very least.

Neji shrugged and said, “To be completely fair, I don’t actually care what Kiba wants, but when he texted me a while ago and asked me to come he seemed worried about you, and I _do_ happen to care about you.”

“I told Kiba I’m fine,” Naruto said quietly. This time though, it was a little harder to believe it.

“Totally,” Neji said with a nod before he turned on his stool and ordered some ramen when Ayame came over. When she left, Neji added, “But Kiba’s gone, and he’s not the best listener anyway, so I wouldn’t blame you if you said that just so he’d stop asking.”

Naruto nodded and looked down, frowning at how sad his ramen looked now that it’d gone completely cold, but he still didn’t have an appetite, not even when Ayame set Neji’s ramen down in front of him. All Naruto could do was ask her to take his bowl away and try not to look guilty when she balked at him.

“I think...” Naruto started, but then stopped himself.

He wasn’t sure what to say. What even _could_ he say?

Was there just a casual way to bring up his concerns? Should he even mention that he had almost more than a sneaking suspicion of what Sasuke was up to? Could he actually tell someone else what he knew - or at least what had been suggested to him?

“Does this have anything to do with Sasuke?” Neji asked quietly. He wasn’t looking at Naruto, didn’t even glance at him, so Naruto wouldn’t have known that Neji asked him anything if he hadn’t actually heard him speak.

“I guess it does,” Naruto admitted.

“Mm,” Neji hummed as he swallowed. “Would you like to talk about it?”

_No._

“I…”

_Yes._

“I just found out something, but I don’t even know if it’s true. It’s too ridiculous to be true, but I can’t help but...but worry that it is.”

“What did you find out?” Neji asked and Naruto couldn’t help but wonder if he’d always had a knack for sounding disinterested or if he was just trying really hard so he could keep Naruto talking.

“I - _can’t, won’t, shouldn’t_ \- don’t think I should say,” Naruto answered carefully.

Neji nodded again, but he finally turned to look at Naruto and said, very reasonably, “Not that I’m on Sasuke’s side here, but don’t you think you should ask him if whatever you found out is even true?”

“I thought of that,” Naruto said quickly, desperately now that he’d said something about it outloud. “But then I wondered, what if he’d just lie to me?”

“Understandable. Is there anything you could do to call him out if he did lie?”

Yes, there was. There was at least one thing that he’d thought of, probably around the tenth time he’d gotten up to pace last night. Right around the same time he’d had to bandage a couple of his fingers so he’d quit biting at them.

But he couldn’t do it. He _couldn’t_.

If he did, it’d make his suspicions too real. He would be admitting that there was a _real_ possibility that there was something going on, despite the fact that his brain wouldn’t stop screaming at him that _there was definitely something going on!_

So he couldn’t follow Sasuke, couldn’t _spy_ on him - even the thought of the word made him feel dirty.

“I don’t know,” Naruto finally answered, and then he decided to be honest, just for a moment. “I actually don’t know if I _want_ to know.”

“Then why does it bother you so much?” Neji countered, finishing the rest of his ramen quickly. “If you didn’t want to know, then you’d be able to move on.”

“But I _need_ \--”

He stopped dead.

That was it right there. Naruto knew it without the look Neji gave him. He didn’t want to know. Hell, he didn’t _want_ anything to do with the information at all, but he _needed_ to know.

He needed to know if Sasuke lied, if Sasuke was doing something so... _so_ … If Sasuke had kissed _him_ after he kissed his own _brother_. And if he had, then what else had he done with Itachi during the incredibly short time they’d been together?

Most of all though, he needed to know how Itachi was better than him.

Their relation aside, if Itachi hadn’t been a guy, then maybe Naruto would understand. Maybe Sasuke just didn’t actually like guys. It wasn’t like Sasuke had ever actually been open about being gay in all the years he’d known him.

But Itachi _was_ a guy, so that immediately struck that idea down.

So what was it? What could it possibly be? His head hurt the more he tried to think of it.

He was nice. He was kind. _Yeah_ , maybe he didn’t need to give people such a hard time, but he thought he was a pretty decent person overall. And most notably, _not_ related to Sasuke in any way, shape or form, which really made him the best candidate here.

But still…

“I need to understand it, Neji,” Naruto whispered, looking at Neji like he’d be able to give him the answer he so desperately needed.

“Then I’m sure you will, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you, if you’ll let me?” Neji offered.

Naruto nodded, but he was fairly certain there was nothing Neji could do to help him with this, but he was grateful for a friend nonetheless.

“C’mon, let’s go take a walk,” Neji said, standing up and paying. “It might help clear your head.”

Neji ducked out of Ichiraku to wait for Naruto to join him after he apologized to a still worried Ayame and waved goodbye to Teuchi.

Sasuke looked down at his phone when they drove into the village, smiling when he saw that it was only 9:20. They still had some time before he had to be home and they had to go back to the way things had been before.

“Do you think we could go somewhere for a little while before you take me home?” he asked Itachi.

Itachi glanced over at him and smiled before taking the next turn and driving them out to somewhere more familiar to Sasuke than he would have expected.

“Bold move,” he said when Itachi stopped the car at the end of an overgrown path near the lake that their parent’s house overlooked. Well, most of their family’s houses actually.

“It’s getting dark,” Itachi said with a shrug as he opened his door and got out of the car. Sasuke followed him down to the water’s edge and they sat down in the grass close to each other. “Plus,” Itachi added once they sat down, “it’s our family’s property and I’ve never run into anyone out here whenever I’ve come out. So I think we’re fairly safe.”

Despite Itachi’s words, Sasuke looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was around. He could see the hedges that lined the edge of their property near the road, but they were indeed alone and seemed far enough away that no one would really be able to see them, especially once the sun completely set.

“Do you come out here often?” he asked when he turned back around.

“I used to,” Itachi admitted easily, looking up at the stars that were starting to twinkle brighter in the sky with every passing second as the oranges, reds and pinks gave way to a deep navy. “It wasn’t exactly easy to stop seeing you, after all,” he said, and then added, “Though it was a little easier to not see mom and dad as often.”

Sasuke laughed at that and leaned back to watch the sky reflecting on the calm surface of the lake. His anxiety from earlier in the day had calmed significantly and sitting out under the stars with Itachi again made him feel like things would be okay. Itachi always made him feel okay.

“You know,” Itachi said, drawing Sasuke’s attention. “When I’d come out here, sometimes I’d hope that I’d find you here, too. That maybe I’d be able to see you, away from everything else in the world so it could just be the two of us, out here where it’s quiet. Then maybe we’d talk.”

“Is that why you came outside that night?” Sasuke asked. “To talk?”

“Originally?” Itachi asked, tilting his head to the side as he smiled. “Yes, that _had_ been my intention, though I’m obviously not upset with how things turned out.”

“Me either,” Sasuke noted, scooting closer and wrapping his arm around Itachi’s as he laid his head on his brother’s shoulder. “Why’d you kiss me that night?”

“I thought we had well established my jealousy already,” Itachi said lightly.

“No, _that_ I know,” Sasuke said with a quiet laugh. “But I wanna know what made you finally look at me and decide that it was just time to take that plunge? You had no idea how I’d react, but you did it anyway.”

Itachi was silent for a long moment. Sasuke looked up at him to ask if he was okay, but stopped when he saw Itachi studying the lake intently. He’d seen that far away look enough to know that Itachi was thinking.

“I…” Itachi finally said, his voice was soft when he continued. “You looked beautiful.”

Itachi looked at him and brought his other hand up to touch Sasuke’s cheek gently, making a warmth seep deep into him. Right into his bones.

“You looked just like you do right now, and I couldn’t help myself. I thought, if it was the one moment I had, the one moment to try and chase my own happiness then I would take it. Even though I knew it would probably be the _last_ moment I ever got with you.”

“Well, good thing it wasn’t,” Sasuke said, putting his head back on Itachi’s shoulder as he hugged his arm tightly. He wouldn’t think of how else that night could have gone. It didn’t matter; he had Itachi. They had each other, and they were happy.

Itachi leaned his head against Sasuke’s and said, “What made you kiss me back?”

Sasuke shrugged and hummed softly. “It felt good, honestly.”

“Really now?”

“Really, really.”

“Better than kissing, say...someone who isn’t your brother?”

Sasuke sat up to look at Itachi and very pointedly rolled his eyes. “It’s nice to see that you’re over your jealousy.”

“Completely over it,” Itachi said with a grin.

“Yes, it’s much better,” Sasuke said as he bumped his shoulder playfully against Itachi’s. “I dunno, when you kissed me, it was like something just…- Sasuke snapped his fingers - clicked and suddenly everything started to make sense. All the years I’d thought you were so pretty and how desperate I was to be around you all the time.”

Itachi looked over at him with a raised brow and asked, “You thought I was pretty for years?”

“Gorgeous, really,” Sasuke said with a wistful sigh before he added, “Which, I guess, if I’m thinking about it now…” Sasuke stopped as the thought that he’d been about to finish burned bright in his mind and made a loud laugh bubble up out of him. “I…” he gasped, looking over at Itachi and pointing at him. “ _You!_ ”

“You okay there?” Itachi asked, looking at him strangely, but cracking a smile when Sasuke pushed against his arm and then started laughing even harder, falling back on the ground and holding his ribs as he tried to stop laughing and catch his breath.

“ _You’re_ the reason,” Sasuke started before he giggled to himself. He closed his eyes and pressed a hand hard against his lips to stop the tremors of laughter so he could start again. “You’re the reason I realized I was gay!”

“I-- _what?_ ” Itachi asked in amazement, unable to stop his own laugh.

Sasuke nodded vigorously. “Yeah, mhm, yep. It’s just falling into place now, but holy shit… I think I’ve liked you for a while. Like a _while_ while.”

“Wow,” Itachi said to himself, pulling his bun down to run his fingers through his hair and massage his scalp like his mind had just been blown. “I honestly didn’t see _that_ coming.”

“Me--”

_Craaack!_

“What was that?” Sasuke asked at the sudden noise, sitting up like a start and jerking his head to the side to look around even though he couldn’t see anything except a very faint light from a street light up on the road.

“Probably an animal, or someone on the road,” Itachi answered as he put his hair back up. He didn’t seem as agitated by the sound as Sasuke was, but he was looking around just in case too.

When no other sound came, Sasuke took a deep breath and slowly let himself relax. They weren’t doing anything wrong anyway, so there wasn’t anything to be nervous about. As far as anyone in the village was concerned, they were just two brothers spending time together.

“It’s alright, Sasuke,” Itachi reassured him. Like he was trying to prove the point, Itachi laid back against the grass and tugged gently on Sasuke’s arm so he would lay next to him. Sasuke did and squeezed Itachi’s hand when he laced their fingers together.

They laid there for a while, watching the stars twinkle and listening to the bugs chirping as the moon rose higher over the horizon.

“Hey,” Itachi said, breaking the silence. “I had an amazing time with you this weekend.”

“Me too. Thank you for...for everything.”

Itachi pushed himself onto his side and in one easy move, he stole a quick kiss. “I love you,” he said when he pulled away.

“I love you, too,” Sasuke whispered back, closing the distance between--

_Riiing Riiing_

Sasuke groaned softly and rolled his eyes, pecking Itachi on the lips as he fished his phone out of his pocket and answered it without needing to look at who it was.

“We’ll be there in just a couple minutes, mom,” he lied easily, pulling his phone back to look at the time as she said something about being late. It was 10:02. “Yeah, I’m sorry; there was a lot of traffic, but we’re almost there. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

He didn’t wait for her to respond and once he hung up he pushed himself to his feet along with Itachi, heading back to the car. Under the cover of the thick trees that surrounded the path they’d parked off of, Sasuke hugged Itachi when they got back to the car, resting his chin on Itachi’s shoulder as he held him.

“Thank you for being the most incredible thing in my life,” he whispered.

“All in a day’s work, I suppose,” Itachi said, pressing a kiss to Sasuke’s shoulder as he smiled.

“Can I still call you later tonight? When I’m ready to go to sleep?” Sasuke asked as he got into the car and buckled up.

“You better,” Itachi said as he started the car, giving Sasuke one last look. “I don’t want to go to sleep alone.”

“Me either,” Sasuke said with a smile, leaning his head back against the headrest as Itachi backed down the path and got back on the road to head to their parent’s house. It wasn’t home anymore. Home was with Itachi, and even though he had to wait a little while, Sasuke knew he’d be home soon.

It was 9:45.

Naruto looked at the time emblazoned on his phone and sighed. He’d left Neji hours ago at the Hyuga compound, but he hadn’t been able to go home. Instead, he’d wandered aimlessly around the village as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do.

He had school tomorrow. School meant Sasuke. Sasuke meant trouble. And trouble made his fingers itch for his phone, for the _picture_ that he couldn’t tear himself away from even though he told himself over and over again to stop torturing himself.

It wasn’t worth the time. The effort. The heartache. The headache.

But his fingers ached more than he thought anything else could, throbbing with their own individual heartbeats the longer that he held his phone. They were waiting, desperate, _hungry_ for him to just _do it_. Just tap the screen, the icon, the inconspicuous folder that held all his heartache inside it.

He wouldn’t.

He _shouldn’t_.

He did it.

Naruto took in a sharp breath as the picture filled the screen, looking the exact same way that he remembered. Looking the exact same way, even though he hoped every time that he saw it that it would be different, be changed, be _him_ with Sasuke instead of Itachi.

But it wasn’t him, and that thought made his heart clench painfully in his chest. It stopped him in his tracks under a street light on a deserted road.

“What are you doing?” Naruto whispered aloud as he stared at the picture with an unwavering gaze.

The question was for Sasuke, because he wanted - _needed_ \- to know what was true. The question was for himself, because he felt so faw and hurt that it was starting to seem impossible to stop himself from hurting more. The question was for the world, because this was the cruelest of tricks that had ever been played on him in his life.

“I… _You!_ ”

Naruto’s head shot up at the laugh and disjointed words that rang out suddenly through the quiet of the night, pulling his attention mercifully away from his phone long enough for him to recognize where he was. On a street across from a lake.

Not just any lake though.

Naruto’s eyes widened as he then realized just who he’d heard.

“Sasuke…” he whispered as he stared at the lake by the Uchiha compound. The water was much calmer than his own heartbeat as he wondered how he’d even gotten here.

Yes, he hadn’t been paying much attention to where he’d been going, but he wouldn’t have come here. He didn’t want to be _here_.

He heard another laugh, this one different, shorter and deeper and Naruto bit down hard on his cheek when the thought hit him that there was only one person that could be. But why were _they_ out here?

The question urged Naruto to take a step forward, toward the tall-ish hedges that lined the other side of the street as a barrier to keep people out. Keep prying eyes away.

He could hear Itachi’s voice though, saying something quietly enough that Naruto couldn’t make it out.

At least not from where he was standing right now.

Another step.

He gripped his phone tightly in his hands, his lungs burning as he tried not to breathe. Tried not to do anything that would give him away as he slowly inched closer.

_Craaack!_

“What was that?”

Naruto leapt the rest of the way across, crouching down onto his knees as he hid on the other side of the thick bush. He glanced behind him, back to where he’d been on the street and saw a decent sized tree branch that he’d snapped in half on his last step.

“Probably an animal, or someone on the road,” he heard Itachi say, his voice still muffled but it sounded like he was looking in the direction of the road.

Naruto stayed crouched for at least a minute, waiting to hear one of them say something else or come up to the hedges to see who was there, but nothing happened and eventually there was just a quiet, distant mumbling sound as the two of them started talking to one another again.

Not paying any mind to the world. To anything other than each other. And especially not to Naruto, who was gripping his phone so tightly he would have probably broken it had it not been as thick and sturdy as it was.

_They don’t suspect anything,_ a quiet voice whispered in Naruto’s mind as he was frozen. Despite the tsunami of thoughts that had been rushing around in his mind since yesterday, he could hear this one so clearly. It cut straight through him and he let out a shuddering breath.

They didn’t suspect anything. Not that he was here, or that he _knew_. Knew their dirty, disgusting secret.

_But I_ don’t _know,_ Naruto thought rationally. _I don’t_ really _know what’s going on._

That much was true, but the clear voice in his mind drowned out his own thoughts as it urged him on.

_But you could._

Yes, he could.

Slowly, Naruto raised his phone and unlocked it. The picture flashed up before his eyes, but this time he didn’t pay it any mind. Instead, he closed it so he could open the camera app on his phone and then raised himself up as slowly and quietly as he could so he could peek over the hedge.

His eyes were searching, flicking from the dark scenery before him to his phone that corrected the brightness some so he could see a little better. All he could see was a large, empty expanse in the darkness and then the water that reflected the sky as the moon was coming up over the horizon. But…

Where were they?

He could still hear them mumbling to one another, but _where were they?_

_Riiing Riiing_

Naruto gasped and slapped his hand across his mouth as he quickly ducked down, his heart pounding so hard that he thought it might stop altogether. Somewhere, in the back of his mind behind his panic, he could hear Sasuke talking to someone else, probably the person who’d called.

“I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

That was all Naruto needed to hear to know he needed to leave, and now. He ran, half crouched down, back across the street, not daring to stand back up until he was back where he’d started. Even then, he didn’t stop moving.

He ran as far as he could at a full sprint, until his lungs and throat burned so badly that he wanted to tear into his body to get rid of the pain. Only then did he stop. Only then did he think about what he had almost done.

Panting, Naruto looked down at his phone and saw that his camera was still open. Waiting. Damning proof of what he’d nearly done. What he _would have done_ if he hadn’t gotten scared.

The thought made him sick and he doubled over and dry heaved until he saw black spots swimming across his vision.

What was wrong with him?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I felt so bad for having the last chapter take so long to come out that I decided to go ahead and put another chapter up. I hope you guys enjoy!

"You'll have to get up at some point," Itachi's voice came from the other end of the phone that Sasuke had pressed against his ear.

"Mmm, I'll get there," Sasuke mumbled, pulling the covers up to his chin as he listened to Itachi making his breakfast on the other end of the line. “I’ve still got - Sasuke pulled his phone away from his ear to check the time - ugh, thirty minutes.”

Itachi chuckled at him and Sasuke could hear dishes clinking together. He allowed himself one more moment in bed to remember what it had been like yesterday morning when they’d made breakfast together. Well, mostly together… _Okay_ , Sasuke had gotten up as Itachi was finishing making breakfast and had just hugged him from behind sleepily as he finished cooking.

It had been nice though and Itachi was a really good cook.

“Okay, okay, I’m getting up,” Sasuke finally mumbled to himself, throwing his covers off before he had the chance to change his mind.

“Look, I knew you could do it,” Itachi said sarcastically. “I’m gonna switch this to video.”

“Mmkay,” Sasuke said as he heard the beep from Itachi’s request and accepted it as he stood up and went over to his closet to get some clothes to change into. He smiled when the video feed opened as Itachi sat down at his dining table to eat what looked like eggs and toast.

“Good morning."

“Good morning,” Itachi replied as he moved his phone away from him, fiddling with it for a few seconds, making the image shake until he stopped and pulled his hands away before pointing back at Sasuke. “Now stay,” he muttered to his phone.

“If you drop me again, I _will_ take it personally,” Sasuke joked, holding his phone to the side and glancing at Itachi as he grabbed something decent enough out of his closet and headed over to the bathroom that connected to both his room and the room that used to be Itachi’s.

“That was an _accident_ last night,” Itachi said as he took a bite of his toast.

“You keep saying that, but I’m not convinced,” Sasuke said skeptically as he carefully placed his phone down, leaning it against the mirror by the sink so it was standing up and he could still see Itachi. He bent down to look directly at the camera and continued, “I just think you couldn’t handle my opinion on that movie.”

Itachi rolled his eyes and they both laughed as Sasuke started to change.

“Yeah, that was definitely--wait, hold on,” Itachi stopped himself mid-sarcastic reply and Sasuke let go of the hem of his shirt so it dropped back down the few inches he’d lifted it up as he looked at his brother in concern.

“What is it?” Sasuke asked.

Itachi sat back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest with a grin. “I didn’t realize I was getting a show with my breakfast this morning, is all. Please - he gestured vaguely toward Sasuke - continue. And preferably slower.”

Sasuke felt a flush heat his cheeks and he hesitated. Sure, he’d been about to undress without even thinking, but after Itachi put the overtly sexual idea in his mind, Sasuke felt almost nervous. Okay, not almost, _definitely_ nervous. It was something different, new and, overall, strangely _exciting_ just to think about stripping in front of his brother over video. Itachi would be unable to touch him, left only at Sasuke’s mercy and hoping to see more.

That thought spurred him and Sasuke bit his lip before throwing what little caution he had when it came to Itachi to the wind and pulled on the hem of his shirt again, slowly lifting it - since Itachi had suggested it so nicely - to expose his stomach and just how low his boxers were riding, showing a deep V that he was sure left almost nothing to Itachi’s imagination.

Making sure Itachi was watching, he pushed his shirt up his chest and ran his other hand across his naked skin, gasping softly as he stopped to play with one of his nipples. His eyes closed as he remembered the way Itachi had touched him, his brother’s tongue and fingers teasing and suckling at him in ways that made him groan even now. The memory, the fantasy, the _reality_ of what he was doing made his cock twitch underneath the scant layer of clothing that hid him from Itachi’s eyes.

Itachi sucked in a sharp breath and Sasuke opened his eyes to look at him, to see just what this was doing to him and smiled when he watched Itachi start to lean unconsciously closer, wanting to get an even better look. Apparently, he liked watching Sasuke as much as Sasuke seemed to be enjoying being watched.

Finally, Sasuke pulled his shirt off completely and dropped it uncaringly to the ground so he could reach for his boxers, his heart pounding deafeningly in his ears despite the fact that he’d been naked in front of Itachi a handful of times before now. He hooked a thumb in the waistband of his boxers, with the full intent to start pushing them off his hips so he could free his rapidly hardening cock, but just as he started to, a silent alarm popped up on his screen, covering Itachi’s video feed.

_“15 Minutes!”_

Feeling a little more than frustration at the fact that he had school, Sasuke removed his hands from his boxers and bent over to clear the notification with a pouty look. He felt a little overjoyed though when he saw Itachi biting his lip in expectation and couldn’t stop himself from glancing up at the mirror to see how blown his pupils were and how flushed his chest was from his own touch and the simple, nearly innocent act of Itachi watching him.

They would have to come back to _this_ topic later, that much was sure.

“That’s gonna have to be it for today,” he said, sadly. “I need to finish getting ready and I have a feeling only bad things would happen if I continued.”

“I assure you,” Itachi said, his voice was low and his eyes were still scanning over the skin that Sasuke had exposed, like he was drinking every last inch of him in. “You’d enjoy it.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to come back to this later, won’t we?”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“I hope you do, but for right now, I’ll leave you with that,” Sasuke said. “I love you; I’ll see you later today.”

“I love you, too.”

They disconnected, but Sasuke groaned and bit his lip out of the frustration he’d caused himself. He felt high strung now, a steady drumbeat of lust still pounding through him and making his cock ache between his legs. He was desperate for his brother’s touch, but he guessed his own would have to do and he made a last second decision to turn the shower on.

Yeah, he might end up being a little late for school, but he’d be damned if he was going to be uncomfortable all day.

As the water heated up, Sasuke leaned against the counter and palmed himself gently and slowly through his boxers, remembering and imagining the way Itachi’s hands would feel on him. They were bigger than his own, just slightly, just enough to matter and his fingers were long and slender and so much softer and _stronger_ than he’d ever thought. Itachi knew just how to touch him, how to stroke and squeeze him to draw a gasp or a moan or--

“ _Itachi…_ ” Sasuke gasped quietly as he slowly tightened his grip, canting his hips up, searching out more friction than he could get with the boxers in the way.

He started to take them off so he could get in the shower, watching the steam fill the room but turned just slightly as he started to push his boxers down and caught a glimpse of his phone from the corner of his eye.

All at once, an idea popped into Sasuke’s mind and he grabbed his phone before he even had time to think if it was a good idea or not. Since it was coming to him while he was turned on and searching for anything to take him closer to his orgasm, he assumed it probably wasn't the _best_ idea, but right now to his lust addled brain, it sounded amazing.

He clearly liked Itachi watching him, if his state of being right now was any sort of proof, so it would stand to reason that he would like Itachi looking at pictures of him, too.

As he opened up his front facing camera, he felt a thrill shoot through him straight to his cock as he saw himself on the screen, more ruined and desperate than he’d expected and he hoped Itachi would enjoy it just as much as he was.

Sasuke held his phone up with one hand and pulled his boxers halfway down on one side with his other, completely exposing his hip bone and just the barest hint of the dark hair at the base of his cock, his erection not even trying to look subtle as it bulged indecently, begging to be let out.

He bit his lip and took the picture. The sound of the artificial shutter making his heart race.

Before he could second guess himself, Sasuke pulled up his conversation thread with Itachi and sent the picture with just a quick, _“Can’t wait to see you later.”_

Once his phone showed that the message had been sent, Sasuke put his phone down and swiftly took his boxers off and got in the shower, barely closing the shower door before he wrapped his hand around his cock and stroked himself, letting his mind wander as the hot water felt almost cold against his overheated skin.

Was Itachi touching himself, too? Was he just as needy as Sasuke, just as driven to madness by such a simple act? Sasuke imagined Itachi at home, unsuspecting when he sent the picture, but now unable to take his eyes off it as he jerked himself off, whispering Sasuke’s name the closer he came to his orgasm.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Sasuke gasped, his strokes speeding up as he felt his own climax quickly drawing dangerously close. He slapped his free hand against the shower wall, pressing his fingers hard against it as he thought of going over to Itachi’s tonight and sucking his cock, riding him, just being fucked and pleased and absolutely _ruined_ by his brother.

_Buzzz Buzzz_

“Fu-- _Ita_ \--!” Sasuke jerked his hand from the wall to his mouth and bit down to stop the long, loud moan of his brother’s name that started to spill out of him as he heard his phone buzz and he came, stoking himself through his orgasm as his mind was a haze of pleasure and idea after indecent idea of what Itachi could have said to him - or _sent_ to him.

“I’ll forgive you for making me late. _This time_ ,” Sakura said when he walked out of the house ten minutes later, feeling boneless and only as satisfied as he could make himself.

Sakura was at the end of the driveway, waiting for him as she typed something on her phone, stopping for just a second to fall into step beside him before she continued. Her short nails tapped softly for another moment and Sasuke enjoyed the silence of their walk until she locked her phone and looked over at him with a grin.

“Oh no, what is it?” he groaned as he glanced over at her, not liking what that look meant for him.

“So, you’re coming over this weekend,” she started. “I’m cashing in my raincheck for movies since this weekend is still gonna be nice.”

“I dunno, Sakura--”

“Nope! You’ve _got_ to; I already told my parents you’re coming,” she said brightly, waggling her phone at him. That had probably been what she’d been doing then.

“Sakura…”

“ _Please_ , Sasuke!” she all but whined, turning around to walk backwards in front of him, her hands together in a plea. “It’s been forever since I’ve actually hung out with you…”

There was a beat.

“...And Naruto.”

She added the last part just under her breath, but Sasuke heard it and stopped, his eyes widening at her as he tensed. So much for the good that shower had done. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“I mean...yes, _probably_...maybe not,” she said, her eyes lowering further with each answer as she kicked a rock from the sidewalk into the grass. “But if I just leave it up to the two of you, I don’t think you’ll ever talk again.”

“You don’t _know_ that,” he argued.

Sakura gave him a deadpan look and Sasuke rolled his eyes. Okay, whatever, maybe she did know.

“I don’t really know what to say to him,” Sasuke admitted, stepping around her to continue on. “I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as picking back up like nothing ever happened.”

“That’s why I’m inviting _both_ of you over. Maybe I can help make it a little bit easier.”

“I don’t know, Sakura,” he said again, as unsure as he’d been just a minute ago.

“Just come over for a few hours on Saturday evening. My parents are going to cook; we’ll have ice cream. I’ll even let you pick a movie or whatever. It’s at least worth a shot,” she argued. “And if it doesn’t work then you and Naruto can ignore each other for the rest of your lives. Okay?”

Sasuke sighed as they heard the first bell ring from down the street. For once, Sakura didn’t seem fidget-y about getting to school on time, and that meant more to him than her words. She _was_ worried about them, all three of them, and the friendship they’d shared for years.

“Alright,” he said finally, mostly to make her stop asking. “I’ll be there Saturday, but I won’t promise anything will happen.”

Sakura clapped her hands and Sasuke could clearly see her as a giddy twelve year old again. “Thank you, Sasuke,” she said before grabbing his shoulders to peck him on the cheek.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sauske waved her away, but she was still smiling as she jumped off the curb and started jogging down the street.

“I’ll see you after school!” she called back to him with a wave as she headed through the gates as the second bell rang.

Sasuke followed after her slowly. He was already late for class, so it wasn’t like rushing was going to make him any less late at this point. Plus, he needed an extra minute or two to wrap his mind around the prospect of this meet up at Sakura’s.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Or at least, not as bad as he thought.

Maybe, just maybe, Sakura was right. Right about _yet another_ thing. Was it just because she was smart or did she know something that he didn’t? He was starting to get a little suspicious on that front.

He didn’t want to lose his friendship with Naruto though, but trying to talk with him just on his own had proven more than a little difficult. So, if Sakura could help them move in the right direction, Sasuke figured, as he entered the school and headed to his first class, that it _surely_ couldn’t be all bad.

When he got to class though, Sasuke was more surprised than not to see Naruto missing. For just a split second, he started to reach for his phone, already drafting a message in his mind asking Naruto if he was okay. As soon as he started to move his hand though, Sasuke stopped himself, immediately deciding against sending the text.

Naruto had just gone to class without him last week, so if Naruto needed something then, at this point, he would probably have reached out himself.

Maybe.

At least, he _used_ to do that. Then again, things _used_ to be a lot different.

Sasuke sighed and took his seat, looking away immediately when Kakashi tried to catch his eye from the front of the class as he determinedly ignored Sasuke’s tardiness. No, thanks, that was the _last_ problem he needed to worry about right now.

So, yeah, maybe Sakura’s idea was the best one they had at the moment.

Naruto pulled his knees closer to his chest and stared blankly at the clock across the empty biology lab. The classroom had been largely unused for the last couple years after one of the old teachers retired, and so Naruto had made a habit of using the room when he met with Kiba, Tenten, Choji and Shikamaru (when Choji could drag him along) to discuss their latest pranks.

Tenten had graduated last year though and Choji had decided to give up on the pranks when his parents started giving him more responsibilities at home. Shikamaru had, well, obviously never been interested in the first place.

So it had just left him and Kiba, and they didn’t need a room to plan, which worked out in Naruto’s favor right now because no one would expect him to be here.

Honestly, _he_ hadn’t expected to be here, to end up in this room, watching the clock tick down the seconds until first period was over.

No, he’d woken up this morning and walked over with the full intention of going to class and putting in effort. Of putting what had happened this weekend - _last night_ \- behind him.

But then he’d actually gotten here. Had stood outside the gate and imagined what first period would be like. Sitting there, right next to Sasuke, knowing and thinking and screaming to himself for nearly an hour, and he couldn’t do it.

He _couldn’t_. It was just too soon.

Too soon since Gaara had sent him the photo. Too soon to try and pretend everything was okay. _Far_ too soon to believe that he wouldn’t hear that disturbing voice from last night again when he saw Sasuke.

His phone had already been like a brand as it laid in his pocket, perfectly harmless but holding a dangerous knowledge that Naruto wished he could forget. He worried if he saw Sasuke now, that he’d be tempted to show him the picture, to accuse him of the sin.

So he’d come here instead.

When the first bell had rung, he slid against the back wall and had started his diligent watch of the clock, waiting for his next class, the only one he didn’t share with Sasuke.

The ticking of the clock numbed him as he counted the seconds and minutes that stretched like eternities alone in this room. His mind the only thing to keep him company, and at that it was more or less torture.

Finally, the bell chimed and Naruto pulled himself up and made quick work of getting to his next class, his eyes searching everywhere to make sure he didn’t run into Sasuke despite knowing his next class was on the other side of the school.

“Hey, Naruto, come here!” Sakura waved at him excitedly when he entered the classroom. It was the only class that either one of them shared with Sakura and the only advanced class Naruto took throughout his entire time in high school: history.

He headed over to her and slid into the desk next to her while everyone else was filing in. It was Lee’s seat but he was sure both he and Sakura didn’t mind.

“Hey,” he said, “What’s up, Sakura?”

“I, uh,” she said, pausing for long enough that Naruto was sure she was going to ask if he was okay. But after a quick moment and just a strange look, she continued. “I’m setting up my parents projector this weekend. I wanted you to come over Saturday and watch some movies.”

“Oh,” Naruto said, a little surprised. He hadn’t hung out with Sakura alone...like ever. “Uh, sure, okay.”

She smiled at him. “Great! I invited Sasuke, too. I thought the three of us could hang out, like old times.”

Naruto stiffened in his seat, his mind urging him to run and go home. Maybe not come back until graduation day.

Instead, he fought the urge and stayed seated though he was fairly sure there were very visible signs of his panic written across his face. “Uh, I don’t--”

“Don’t think it’s a good idea? Yeah, Sasuke said that, too, but c’mon Naruto, you guys haven’t really talked to each other since...well, since it happened.”

She meant the break up, but Naruto’s mind immediately went elsewhere.

The lake. The _voice_.

His stomach was still churning.

It was probably for the best that they didn’t talk.

“I thought this would be a good opportunity for you guys. And I’ll be there, so it won’t get too awkward.”

_I doubt that._

“Sakura,” he said as evenly as he could, “I get what you’re trying to do. Really, I do, and I appreciate it, but things… Sasuke and I…” Naruto shook his head, not knowing what to say other than, “It’s not a good idea.”

“Will you just come for thirty minutes?” she asked. The hopefulness was gone from her eyes, but she tried to sound as chipper as possible. “Just _see_ for thirty minutes if anything can go...back to normal for you guys?”

Naruto sighed.

“Please, Naruto. You guys have been my friends almost as long as Ino. I hate seeing you both like this. Just thirty minutes this Saturday, that’s all I ask.”

“Fine,” Naruto conceded, getting up from Lee’s chair as the other teen skipped into class. “Thirty minutes, but that’s it, okay?”

She grabbed his hand in both of hers and squeezed it gently. A long time ago, that would have made his heart soar, now it just felt like he was signing his death sentence.

“Thank you,” she whispered before letting him go.

He just nodded numbly and went to the back of the class and took his seat as the teacher came in.

He hated to think that Sakura was wrong about something, but...Naruto knew she was wrong about this.

And he didn’t think anything good would come out of Saturday.

After walking Sakura home after school, Sasuke headed straight over to Itachi’s, his body feeling more jittery the closer that he got as his thoughts kept falling back to the morning and Itachi’s quiet promise, the picture, his brother’s eyes on him so intensely.

Sasuke stopped for a second outside, just to collect himself so he didn’t try to jump Itachi’s bones immediately upon walking in the door, but once he unlocked the door he barely had a second to look up from taking off his shoes and putting his backpack down before Itachi pushed him up against the door and kissed him.

It reminded him very vividly of an afternoon last week, and all thoughts of being patient and not immediately begging Itachi to take him fell away as he kissed his brother back, gasping when one of Itachi’s hands roamed down to grab his ass firmly.

“Hello to you, too,” he mumbled against Itachi’s lips before tilting his head back to give him access to his neck that Itachi readily took.

“We need to talk about that picture you sent me this morning,” Itachi said lowly against his skin, sounding the same way he had as he’d watched him earlier. It made Sasuke shiver despite his brother’s warmth.

“Did you like it?” Sasuke asked innocently, but an intense curiosity burned in him as well. As much as he had been dying for a reply from Itachi, he’d never gotten anything more than an I love you. And right now, just like then, Sasuke started to wonder if he’d made a fool of himself.

“What do you think?” Itachi asked, grabbing Sasuke’s hand to lead it down, gasping quietly into his ear when he pressed Sasuke’s hand to his erection.

“I suppose that would be a yes,” Sasuke said teasingly.

“ _Yes_ ,” Itachi confirmed, guiding Sasuke’s hand up and down over him until he was panting and whispering a slew of curses under his breath.

Feeling surprised but emboldened by the fact that Itachi seemed to be completely comfortable giving himself over to Sasuke right now. He decided to take all that his brother was offering him and brushed Itachi’s hand away before he switched their positions so Itachi was pressed against the door instead. Now unhindered, Sasuke started dragging his fingers at a torturously slow pace along the outline of the bulge in Itachi’s pants.

He smiled when he drew a moan out of Itachi.

“I haven’t been able to think about anything else today,” Itachi admitted, tilting his head back until it fell against the door, his chest rising and falling rapidly as his breath quickened due to Sasuke’s touch. “I’d never imagined you sending me dirty pictures like that, but... _fuck_ , did I like it,” Itachi whispered, his breath catching when he thrust his hips gently, trying to get more friction.

“Did you touch yourself?” Sasuke asked, taking his hand away from the front of Itachi’s pants and smirking when he heard the delightful new sound of his brother’s desperate mewl. He wanted to hear more of it and slid his hands up Itachi’s shirt to pinch and play with his nipples.

“ _Sasuke_ ,” he whispered, arching his back slightly for something Sasuke knew all too well. _More._

“Did you?” Sasuke asked again, this time pushing Itachi’s shirt up so he could kiss down the beautiful pale skin and wrap his lips around one of the pert, rosy buds before flicking his tongue against it.

“Ye-es,” Itachi’s voice broke and Sasuke rewarded him with a kiss for his answer before letting both his hands fall down to undo Itachi’s pants, selfishly enjoying Itachi’s quiet sighs and groans as he dominated his brother for the first time.

Itachi helped him push his pants and boxers down, growing more desperate by the second that he was being teased until he stopped breathing for just a moment when Sasuke moved away and got down on his knees.

There was no ceremony now as Itachi looked down at him, his mouth open just slightly as he waited, wanting. It was just the two of them, and Sasuke figured he’d teased his brother enough for one day so he smiled up at Itachi briefly before taking the head of his cock in his mouth and sucking.

Immediately, one of Itachi’s hands found his hair, gripping and pulling more gently than he had pulled Itachi’s hair in the past but he knew his brother was holding back. Knew it from the last time he’d sucked him off and Itachi had lost control and from the way his nails were scraping against the door as Sasuke took more of him into his mouth, licking and hollowing his cheeks before pulling back just to do it all again.

“Sasuke…”

He stroked the base of Itachi’s cock as he sucked on the head again, squeezing and twisting his hand in ways that he liked as he tried and tried to draw out another delicious noise from Itachi, until it was his sole goal. To hear his brother cry out for him, to watch him lose himself and be devastated all because of _him_.

Itachi whispered his name again as he canted his hips forward slightly, pushing just a bit more of his cock into Sasuke’s mouth but not taking everything that he wanted from him. He didn’t know why Itachi fought so hard against losing control, but he would make him. He would push Itachi over the edge and into oblivion all by himself.

Sucking in as deep a breath as he could manage through his nose, Sasuke did his best to relax his throat, trying to remember what had happened last time, but it had been an accident last time, a blur of force and fuck and _good_ and he knew he couldn’t get Itachi to accidently do that again.

Instead, Sasuke lowered himself again on Itachi’s cock, taking as much of him as he normally could into his mouth before he held a hand against Itachi’s hips to keep him as still as possible while he swallowed down another inch and then another, feeling Itachi’s cock going down his throat slowly.

“Wha-- _fuck, fuck!_ ” Itachi swore under his breath as he realized what Sasuke was doing and his head fell back against the door with a dull _thud_ at the same time that he tangled his other hand in Sasuke’s hair, gripping him tighter but not pulling him forward, much to Sasuke’s own dismay and he groaned in disapproval.

That, Sasuke very quickly learned, seemed to be the last thing that Itachi needed to lose the last bit of control he was holding onto because once the groan vibrated through him, Itachi’s hips bucked again and he pulled Sasuke further onto his cock, albeit, much gentler this time around since Sasuke was more prepared for it.

Itachi’s voice broke with a deep moan as he panted and thrust his hips quickly, using Sasuke the way he wanted to be used. And Sasuke encouraged him with his own moan, hopefully letting Itachi know that this was okay, he liked it and he _wanted it_. Holy fuck, did he want it even though he still gagged around him and his jaw hurt. He swallowed around Itachi’s cock, the muscles in his throat straining, but he could tell Itachi was close and he wanted Itachi to use him, to fuck him, to come down his throat again.

“Fuck,” Itachi gasped, almost like he’d heard Sasuke’s thought and his grip tightening in Sasuke’s hair. He thrust his hips two more times before he stilled for a moment and came, Sasuke’s name a broken, needy cry on his lips.

Sasuke swallowed down every drop he could and once Itachi’s fingers loosened in his hair, he slowly pulled back until just the head of Itachi’s cock was left in his mouth and he sucked on it, drawing out Itachi’s pleasure as long as he could so he could listen to the desperate sounds of his brother’s enjoyment.

Itachi very gently guided Sasuke off of his spent cock and pulled him up so he could kiss him lazily. Sasuke’s knees thanked him, but the pain was always worth it for Itachi.

“Are you okay?” Itachi asked, still leaning against the door as he caught his breath.

Sasuke smiled and he could feel how swollen his lips were, but _oh_ , did it feel good. “I’m fine, Itachi, and I’m going to be honest with you at this point…”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, I think you’re going to need to accept that I like you being rough with me.”

Itachi leaned his head back and laughed, his orgasm clearly making him feel a little giddier than normal. “I think you’re right,” he agreed when he looked back at Sasuke, smiling at him fondly.

“Excellent. Now, I think it’s my turn,” Sasuke said, slipping away from Itachi to take a few steps backward, toward the bedroom, taking his shirt off and dropping it unceremoniously on the ground as he walked.

Itachi watched him with a surprisingly predatory gaze as he followed, stepping out of his pants and unbuttoning his own shirt, dropping it on the floor next to Sasuke’s before they made it into the bedroom and Itachi pinned him down against the bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew boy! This is a bit of a monster of a chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it! :)

“Have you...like, _seen_ Naruto the last couple days?” Sasuke asked when he stopped at Sakura’s locker when school was over on Wednesday afternoon.

“Yeah?” she said, giving him a weird look as she shut her locker and spun the dial for good measure. He rolled his eyes at that, because someone was _definitely_ interested in stealing all of her books. “He’s been in history every day.”

“He has…?” Sasuke trailed off. His shoulders slumped forward slightly, both out of relief and because he _knew_ now that Naruto was avoiding him. Great, just what he needed.

“Yeah, why? Is something up?”

“Not unless you count him not being in his six other classes for the last three days “something,”” he answered dryly.

Sakura’s eyes widened at that. “He... _what?_ ”

Sasuke just held his hands up as if to say, “Yeeep, that’s definitely what’s been going on here.”

“I… What in the _world_ is going on with that boy?” Sakura asked herself as she shook her head and hefted her backpack over her shoulder. She mumbled something else under her breath that Sasuke couldn’t catch before she started toward the doors to leave. Sasuke followed.

“I’m what’s wrong,” Sasuke said with a sigh.

“That’s not true, Sasuke.”

“Sakura,” he said sternly, shooting her a look. “He’s only going to the _one_ class I don’t share with him. I think it’s safe to say that I’m the problem.”

“I don’t…” she sighed and then nodded in concession, unable to come up with an argument to make him feel better. “Okay, fine, maybe that is the reason.”

“Thanks for agreeing so easily, Sakura; really appreciate that.”

She pushed at his shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him to blow a raspberry. “Shut up,” she chided him with a laugh. “Fine, _if_ that is the reason, then, I mean, maybe Saturday will actually be good for you guys.”

“He agreed?”

Honestly, Sasuke was shocked to hear that.

“I didn’t tell you?” Sakura asked, moreso to herself. “Yeah, he did. He was super reluctant--

“Can’t imagine why…”

“--but I got him to agree to thirty minutes on Saturday and then go from there.”

“Woah, woah,” Sasuke stopped when they got to the gates where a couple other students were milling about and chatting. He looked at her as if she’d just dropped a batch of his mom’s muffins on the ground. “You let him agree to thirty minutes? And I had to agree to _hours_? Somehow, that doesn’t strike me as very fair.”

“You’re the one who broke up with him,” Sakura said. As if he needed reminding. The scene was still painfully vivid in his mind whenever he let his thoughts drift too long. “I figured I’d cut him a _little_ slack.”

“Or go out of your way to torture me,” Sasuke muttered and then laughed when Sakura shot him a nasty look. He held his hands up. “I’m kidding; I’m kidding!”

“You’d better be, for your own sake,” she shook her head.

“Do I want to know what you’ve done to illicit that threat, Sasuke?”

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked back behind them when they heard the smooth voice and saw Itachi. He stopped a few feet away from them, a laptop bag slung across his body and a hand on his hip like he had something to disapprove of, but there was a polite smile on his face.

Sakura looked back at Sasuke and smiled wickedly, like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Oh, if only she knew how far past a cookie jar he was.

“I better go, Sasuke, I’ll see you tomorrow!” she said quickly, which surprised him because he would have assumed she’d want to stick around to see if Itachi was going to reprimand him or something. But since she apparently had better things to do, Sasuke was happy to let her go.

“What’re you doing out here?” Sasuke asked once Sakura was gone, and it was a valid question because in the four years Sasuke had been attending high school, he had never once seen Itachi enter or exit from here.

“Well, it’s lovely to see you, too, darling. Didn’t you miss me?” Itachi teased him, his smile turning into a self-satisfied smirk when Sasuke felt a blush ignite immediately at the endearment and burn him alive. From his cheeks right down into his soul.

“Itachi! You--You can’t say something like _that_!” he spluttered, quickly looking around to see who was around and might have heard Itachi.

“I think I just _did_ ,” Itachi chuckled. “Relax, Sasuke; there’s no one here anymore. It’s just us.”

He kept looking for another moment, not completely believing Itachi and expecting someone to pop out from nowhere and shout, “Gotcha!” He quickly realized Itachi was right though, they were alone. He could relax.

At least, he could if his heart dislodged itself from his throat and went back into his chest where it belonged, but it didn’t seem too keen on doing that right now. And he didn’t think it was entirely that one little word’s fault.

“I _did_ miss you,” he finally said quietly, not trusting his voice or that he wouldn’t be overheard.

Itachi smiled. “I missed you, too.”

Sasuke couldn’t help but smile himself at that. Itachi’s tone had a fondness to it that made a fuzzy feeling bloom where his panic had been a few seconds ago. If they hadn’t been in public, or directly outside his school, he would have moved closer to Itachi and kissed him just to hold onto that feeling as long as he could.

Since he wasn’t so lucky, he settled on taking a deep breath instead.

“Not that I’m upset to see you at all,” he finally said, “But what _are_ you doing out here?”

“I thought it’d be nicer to walk over with you,” Itachi answered like that was supposed to clear everything up. Sasuke’s confused look didn’t get past him though, so he helpfully asked, “Didn’t you get my text?”

“Uh, no,” Sasuke said and fished his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, noticing two things at once. One of which was that he’d never taken his phone off of silent after his exam during his last period, so he did that now while he looked over the second thing: Itachi’s text.

_“Family dinner tonight.”_

Okay, that wasn’t _all_ the message said, but that was the portion that Sasuke’s brain focused on as it tried to detach from the situation they were suddenly presented with. Or would be presented with once they got to their parent’s house.

He was fairly certain neither of them had expected to be confronted with it so soon though.

“...What?” he breathed.

He wasn’t sure if that one word succinctly summarized the large swell of emotions that he suddenly felt at reading that, but Itachi seemed to understand enough since he nodded sympathetically.

“That was my thought exactly when I got the text from mom earlier.”

“I just… What?” Sasuke asked again.

“We can talk about it on the way,” Itachi laughed and took a couple steps forward so he could reach out and touch Sasuke gently on the arm. His fingers lingered, stroking just below the end of his sleeve for a second longer than would be considered platonic or familial before his hand dropped back to his side like nothing had ever happened. “Let’s go.”

Sasuke followed a step behind Itachi, still feeling a little dumbfounded. Eventually, he found his voice though and was able to articulate more than a single word at a time, “Didn’t we just do this? Like, I think it was a week and a half ago? Or did I hallucinate that?”

“Unless it was a shared hallucination, no,” Itachi said. He looked over to his side, frowning when he noticed Sasuke wasn’t right next to him and then twisted around a little to look back at him.

It didn’t escape Sasuke’s notice that Itachi’s arm moved just the slightest bit in his direction, his fingers twitching and then clenching just as quickly into a fist. He’d almost reached out to take his hand, he realized, and just that small second of Itachi’s brotherly demeanor slipping made Sasuke smile to himself and quicken his pace enough to take his place at his brother’s side.

And if he was maybe an inch closer than he strictly should have been, Itachi wasn’t itching to say anything.

“Good to know,” Sasuke replied. “So, what does mom think we have to talk about then?”

“Maybe our trip?”

“Mm, maybe, but...a whole dinner? _Just_ for that?” Sasuke shook his head. “I don’t buy it.”

Itachi shrugged. “It _is_ strange, I admit, but it’s only going to be a few hours. So, as long as you keep the eye fucking to a minimum we should--”

“I do _not_ \--!”

Itachi rolled his eyes at Sasuke’s indignation and talked right over him, “ _Please_ , you’ve got me half undressed the moment I walk in a room! Don’t pretend that you don’t know.”

Sasuke stopped on the sidewalk and openly gaped at Itachi, feeling personally attacked right now. And maybe a little more than called out.

Itachi turned to face him and Sasuke wanted to yank him close and kiss the smirk right off his face, but that would be inappropriate...and just prove Itachi’s point.

“To be fair, though,” Itachi said, lowering his voice as he brought his hand up to caress Sasuke’s chin just slightly so he could close his gaping mouth. His voice was barely more than a whisper when he dropped his hand and said, “I am quite a prize, so I can’t blame you too much, now can I?”

Sasuke couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of him at that. “You are--”

“Everything you’ve ever wanted in a boyfriend?”

Another burst of laughter and Sasuke clutched his side. “I was going to say, “full of yourself,” but if that makes you feel better, then sure, we can go with that instead.”

“It does,” Itachi said, his smirk now a full blown grin. “And thank you, because I already knew both of those things.”

“My pleasure.”

They continued on after that, Sasuke giggling every now and then to himself as his mind just kept replaying those last few moments over and over. Nothing summed Itachi up better than that for him. Stupid jokes; ridiculous and sarcastic nonsense that was almost always said with the intent to make Sasuke laugh until he cried.

And it worked every time.

“I love you so much,” Sasuke whispered, swinging his hand just slightly to the side so his fingers could brush against Itachi’s in a way that could have almost been accidental. They both knew otherwise though, especially when Itachi’s index finger wrapped around Sasuke’s to hold it for just a moment, just a breath, just long enough to convey everything they needed to one another.

“I love you, too, Sasuke.”

They spent the rest of their walk in a comfortable silence and it wasn’t too much longer before they turned their last corner and saw their parent’s driveway another forty or so feet in front of them.

Sasuke wasn’t sure which one of them slowed down and which one just followed suit so they could stay together, but either way they did slow and every step after that moment found them moving further and further away from each other until there was at least a foot between them.

It didn’t sound like much, sure, but in Sasuke’s mind it felt more like a mile.

When they got to the end of the driveway, Sasuke stopped. Itachi had taken a step past him without flinching, but Sasuke wasn’t able to cross the line yet, to actually step onto their parent’s property with his brother by his side and leave his feelings for Itachi behind him. Well, not behind, per se, but definitely stuffed deep down into his soul. The same place that they’d been hiding for who knew how long.

“How am I supposed to go in there and pretend that I don’t care about you as much as I do, Itachi?” he asked quietly when Itachi turned back to him with a questioning look.

“I...” Itachi narrowed his eyes and looked at Sasuke like he was still searching for that exact same answer after all these years. “I wish I knew.”

Sasuke scoffed and scooted closer to Itachi, the toes of his shoes crossing the line from the street to the driveway just barely. “We’re pathetic.”

Itachi shrugged. “We’re in love. I feel like it’s okay to be pathetic when you love someone.”

Sasuke smiled at that. He agreed whole-heartedly with the sentiment.

“I--”

“There you are, boys! You took long enough getting here! Come inside, dinner will be ready soon,” their mother called from the doorway.

Itachi had turned to look at her and give her a wave in recognition, but then turned back to Sasuke. He reached out and touched his arm again, this time a little firmer and for just another heartbeat longer.

“I know, Sasuke. I love you, too. And it’ll be okay.”

Naruto watched from one of the windows in his biology lab/hideout as Sasuke and Itachi walked through the school gates together, just laughing and talking and looking like they were having a grand old time as they headed...wherever they were going together.

_Together._

He tried not to be jealous. Really, he did, but it was seeming to be more of an impossible task every day now.

So much so that even though he told himself the last two mornings that he wasn’t going to hide in this musty old room, he still ended up here. Only leaving to scurry to and from second period for a reason he hadn’t exactly figured out yet.

After all, what good was going to one class when he missed the other six?

Maybe he just wanted a sense of normalcy? Maybe he didn’t want to give up on the one class he’d been doing kind of decently in this year? Or maybe… Maybe he just wanted to breathe in a room where Sasuke didn’t exist. Have fifty minutes of his day _not_ devoted to the young raven haired man who was slowly driving him to madness.

Really, it was impossible to know the reasons behind it, so he wouldn’t waste his time thinking about it anymore.

How could he, anyway, when his eyes were glued to the retreating forms of Sasuke and Itachi?

_It’s disgusting._

Naruto jerked himself back from the window with a start and pressed his hands over his ears, knowing it wouldn’t help but still desperately hoping that it would drown the voice out.

“They are _just_ brothers,” he said it aloud, his voice more stern than he’d expected it to be.

_You saw the way_ he _touched Sasuke’s arm._

“People can touch; brothers can touch. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t _have_ to mean anything!” he pleaded back to the voice, hoping it would take mercy on him today and just stop. Just fall quiet and let him have an evening - just _this_ evening - to be silent.

_But you know it does. You know Gaara wouldn’t lie to you._

“How? How do I _know_ that?” he asked, begged even. His nails dug into the sides of his head as he started to pace through the rows of lab tables.

The answer came easily, just like every answer he received from the voice in his head, but this time it rang with something else. Something he knew.

“ _Ask him._ ”

His own voice.

Before he could stop himself, Naruto yanked his phone out of his pocket, blinking furiously as he cleared the _picture_ off of his screen and pulled up his contact list, dialing Gaara’s number without so much as a second thought.

“Naruto?” Gaara said when he picked up on the second ring. His voice was muffled for a second, like he was fumbling with his phone. “What’s going on?”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?” he asked immediately.

“Lie?” Gaara asked, confused. “What would I lie about?”

“You _wouldn’t_ , would you? Not about anything? Not about…”

Gaara took a sharp intake of breath on the other line and Naruto knew that he understood what he meant. _Not about what you said you saw?_

“Sasuke…” Gaara muttered under his breath before he spoke louder. “I’m not an asshole, Naruto.”

Somewhere in the background, Temari shouted, “Yes, you are!”

“Shut _up_ , Temari!” Gaara shouted after he pulled the phone away from his mouth for a second so he sounded as far away as Temari had. The next moment, he was close again and said, “Ugh, sorry about that, but no. What would I get out of lying to you about that, Naruto?”

Truly, he didn’t know. He hadn’t been able to come up with a good enough reason in the last few days, and he told Gaara as much, but he had one more question.

“Did you _really_ see Sasuke kissing that guy, Gaara? The one - Naruto bit his lip as he thought about it - in the picture you sent me?”

“I’m sorry, Naruto. I know it sucks, but if he’s going to do something like that to you then he isn’t worth being with in the first place.”

“Yes or no, Gaara. Did you really see it?” Naruto questioned again, pressing his lips together tightly when he heard his voice crack.

“Yes,” Gaara admitted quietly. “I would never lie to you, Naruto. _Especially_ not over something like that.”

All at one, the urgency left Naruto’s body and he felt empty. Raw. _Numb._

Of course, Gaara wouldn’t lie to him. He knew this. He’d even gone over it in his mind day after day, hour after hour since he’d gotten that damnable picture.

Gaara was a good friend. Gaara had nothing to gain from his pain.

A long moment of silence stretched between them because, honestly, Naruto forgot he was even still on the phone, but Gaara’s voice startled him back to reality when he asked, very cautiously, “Did you recognize the guy? Did you figure out who he was?”

“No,” Naruto said automatically. “I haven’t. I’m sorry for bothering you, Gaara.”

“Naruto, you aren’t--”

He ended the call before Gaara could say anything else.

_I told you_ , the voice whispered and Naruto let out a shaky breath.

“I know.”

_So what will you do?_

He knew that, too.

If ever Sasuke complained about a family dinner again, he’d have to ask Itachi to remind him in great detail about tonight.

It hadn’t started out bad, but _boy_ , had it gotten there quickly.

No, it had started out innocently enough. Their mother and father, like always at opposite heads of the table, and Itachi sitting directly across from Sasuke.

And yes, it had been its own special challenge to not stare openly at Itachi - _or_ eye fuck him, as he’d so eloquently put it - but that had been overcome easily enough when he decided that he would be better off staring at his food.

So, all in all, he was starting off strong, and he was committed to making it through this meal with minimal sighing and absolutely _no_ footsies under the table. That last part was mostly just on the chance that he touched a foot that wasn’t Itachi’s and not because it was a bad idea.

Although, it probably _was_ a bad idea as well, but that was beside the point.

The _point_ was that he was strong. He had a will of steel and he could definitely, _absolutely_ get through this meal without a problem.

Oh, but then… But then, but then…

Their mother asked Itachi a question, “How’s work been, dear?”

And everything went downhill from the next moment.

“I’m actually looking for a new job,” Itachi answered. Which, even after having spent the last week and a half in near constant contact with his brother, was _news to Sasuke._

His head shot up at the same time their father hummed in semi-interested and their mother made a little gasp and looked over to him. To _him!_ Like he was his brother’s keeper… Well, he guessed he was now, sort of.

“Sasuke, you never mentioned that,” she said.

Sasuke floundered for a moment, waving his chopsticks in some vague semblance of a shape before he just gestured to Itachi and managed to say, “I had no idea!”

“I’ve been thinking about it for awhile,” Itachi explained, raising his eyebrows just slightly at Sasuke. Maybe it was to silently tell him to bring it down a couple notches. Or maybe it was to _apologize_ for springing this on him in one of the worst possible ways!

Sasuke decided to take it as the latter, but he was going to have words with Itachi about this later. That much was sure.

“Are you still planning to teach?” Fugaku asked one of the normal three obligatory questions he asked during their dinners together. Everything else was taken care of by their mother.

“Yes, I’m just looking at places outside of the village.”

It didn’t need to be said, but this, too, was news to Sasuke.

“Speaking of,” Mikoto started. “How was your trip to Suna?”

_Oh no, oh no, oh no..._

The mantra started in Sasuke’s head immediately as he knew directly where this conversation was headed. Because where else could it go?

“It was good,” Itachi said, throwing a glance at him briefly with a smile that he did not like the looks of. “Sasuke and I even managed to get out a couple of times, didn’t we?”

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek to try and help fight the blush that he could feel creeping through him at that sweet, secret implication. He managed to nod in reply, but narrowed his eyes at Itachi, wanting to take back the “no footsies” rule he’d imposed on himself so that he could kick his brother.

“That’s good,” Mikoto said, happily. “So, you were able to get to the university then?”

Ah, _there_ it was.

No extra small talk about _what_ they had done in Suna, or idle comments about how pretty the town was and what they liked best. Nope, it was just straight to the bone with their mother.

“Ugh, _mom_ ,” Sasuke surprised himself when he groaned in exasperation. “We’ve talked about this! I told you that I don’t want--”

“Well, that’s why I invited your brother over tonight, sweetheart,” she said. “I thought he could talk with you about why you _should_ want to go.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened. 

He hadn’t expected _that_.

And from the hush that fell over Itachi’s side of the table, neither had he.

“Y-You want me...to _what_?” Itachi asked, half laughing. Sasuke assumed because he didn’t really believe what he was hearing.

Sasuke wished he could say the same.

Mikoto nodded and repeated herself, “I thought you could talk with your brother about your time in college. Give him some advice and encouragement.”

To Itachi’s credit, when he was put in any state of being that he didn’t expressly want to be in, he couldn’t be kept there long. So as soon as Mikoto finished explaining her master plan to him, Itachi was quick to reply, any shock he might have still felt at this sudden and poorly planned intervention was gone. Or at least well hidden.

“I already did give him advice while we were in Suna.”

“Oh?” their mother said, sounding so impressed that Itachi had _thought ahead_. “What did you tell him?”

“Honestly, mom,” Itachi shrugged. “I told him not to go.”

“Well, why would you do that?”

Suddenly, Sasuke wished he had a knife so he could cut through the tension that settled over the table at that. Well, it moreso settled over Itachi, so maybe he wished for less of a knife and more of a kiss to his brother’s cheek and maybe a sweet whisper in his ear that it would be okay. Surely, that would help

“Because he doesn’t have to do it just because you want him to?” Itachi said after a minute, putting it out there like he was hoping that she would understand that it wasn’t her decision.

“College would be good for him. You, of all people, know that.”

“Yeah, because it was _so good_ for me when you made me go,” Itachi shot back, sarcasm dripping like venom from his words.

Sasuke’s chopsticks fell from his hand and he looked at his brother in shock. He’d never heard Itachi talk to their mother like that before, and he didn’t like the implication of what it meant for where this conversation was going now.

“You were excited to go! I didn’t _force_ you.”

Itachi rolled his eyes. “I was sixteen! What choice did I have?”

“You--” she started to say, but when nothing else followed, Itachi opened his mouth.

“Uh,” Sasuke said, clearing his throat loud enough to draw everyone’s attention at the table to him. He hated the sudden scrutiny, but could have sighed in relief when Itachi shut his mouth before he said anything he might have regretted later.

“Yes, Sasuke?” Mikoto said, her gaze pinning him to his seat and it made him a little nervous.

“I just, uh…” he pointed awkwardly to himself and continued, “I thought this was about me and--”

“Sasuke’s right,” she interrupted, turning back to Itachi. “This isn’t about you.”

“Apparently it is when you’re asking me to force him into something he clearly doesn’t want.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and put his head in his hands. It was more than clear that there was nothing he could do to stop whatever was happening here.

“I just want you to talk to him!” she insisted.

“Lie to him, you mean.”

“I am right here, you know?” Sasuke mumbled to himself, unsurprised when neither of them paid him any mind. He peeked over to look at what their father was doing, but he was just sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the evening dissolve further into chaos like everything was okay.

“I don’t want you to _lie_ , just be honest! I don’t understand why you’re so against this.”

“I’m against it because he is, and he’s told you who knows how many times that he doesn’t want to go.”

“Goodness gracious, it’s not like going to college would kill him, Itachi.”

_Uh oh._

“It very well _could_ , Mother.”

_Oh no._

An alarm started blaring in his mind when Itachi said that. Firstly, because he _never_ called their mom “Mother” and secondly… Well, that one was obvious enough.

He lifted his head back up and ran a hand through his hair as he eyed Itachi cautiously, completely abandoning the “no footsies” rule and scooting his foot across the floor under the table to touch Itachi’s. He was willing to do anything to draw Itachi’s attention away and whisper for him to stop right now.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Itachi was a little too intent on waiting to hear what their mother had to say next.

Mikoto narrowed her eyes just slightly, like she was replaying what Itachi said a few times in her mind. She tilted her head to the side.

There was a heartbeat.

And then she laughed.

Itachi’s eyes widened.

Sasuke gasped.

_Oh no._

The next couple of moments were a cacophony of each of them talking over one another.

“Dear, that’s ridiculous--” Mikoto started.

“Itachi, don’t--” Sasuke tried to warn.

“College almost killed _me_ ,” Itachi said loudly.

Silence fell over the table again, but this time it was charged with something different. The stirrings of confusion; a palpable fear.

“What?” Mikoto asked, sounding unsure if she’d just heard what she thought she had.

Itachi was silent for a long moment, looking down at the table and worrying his lip between his teeth.

When he spoke again, his voice was much quieter. All the tension in his body was gone and he just shook his head.

“I almost...” Itachi stopped himself, unable to finish the sentence, but the truth was out there all the same. “If he doesn’t want to go, please don't make him feel like he has to. I don't want Sasuke to go through what I did...”

Two things happened after that.

Well, more accurately, two people spoke.

“Itachi…” the first was their mother, who looked like she didn’t know how to process Itachi’s confession.

And the second...

“Son…”

Everyone at the table turned to look at Fugaku when he spoke after Mikoto. One, because he, you know, _spoke_ , but also because he reached out and put his hand on Itachi’s that was balled into a fist on the table. Their father was nothing if not completely against any large shows of affection - or any shows of affection at all - so this was big for him. Like, _BIG_.

Itachi looked down at Fugaku’s hand on his and then looked up into their father’s eyes, wondering where this was going. Which, honestly, Sasuke was doing the same.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Itachi laughed, but it wasn’t nice. It wasn’t the sweet melodious sound that Sasuke liked to hear. No, this was broken.

“...How was I supposed to? I thought you’d be disappointed in me.”

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw their mother’s shoulders slump as she looked between him and Itachi and then back.

“I’d only be disappointed not to have you in our lives, Itachi,” Fugaku said. It was the most emotion he’d ever heard from their father in his entire life.

“Your father is right,” Mikoto agreed with a nod. “I never… I didn’t _know_ … And I--you were right, Itachi. I did push you; I’ve pushed _both_ of you.”

Sasuke could clearly see that Itachi was dealing with a slew of emotions at the moment, but he managed to keep his expression as neutral as he could. Which was more than he could say for their mother, who had a steady stream of tears pouring from her eyes. She reached over to each of them and opened her hand up on the table, a silent request that neither of them could ignore. So they each put a hand in hers.

“I apologize,” she said and Sasuke was shocked. He had never imagined he would hear those words come from her throughout the rest of his life. “All I want for you boys is happiness. Whether that means continuing school, or changing jobs, or what have you. I just want you to be happy.”

Sasuke bit gently at his lip and turned his eyes to Itachi. He was happy when Itachi looked back at him. There was a new type of peace in his gaze, and Sasuke thought he could feel it as well. And even though he knew their mother would never mean her words the way he was taking them right now, Sasuke felt complete as he sat across from Itachi.

He _was_ happy. As long as he had Itachi, he would always be happy.

They pulled their hands away from one another and each of them looked down at their food. Sasuke figured that they, like him, had also not expected this turn of events tonight and were just trying to take it in stride and soak everything in.

Well, if that was the case…

“Not to make it seem like I’m totally changing the subject or anything,” Sasuke said as lightly as possible. “But, uh, I have something to say.”

Both of their parents turned their gaze to him, but Itachi kept his eyes down.

With a deep breath, Sasuke just blurted it out. Because, really, why let an awkward family dinner go to waste? Might as well make it as absolutely awkward as possible, right?

“I’m gay.”

“We know,” Fugaku and Mikoto chimed in unison.

Sasuke’s jaw dropped and Itachi tilted his head back and laughed.

It was beautiful.

A few hours later, Sasuke sat on the opposite side of the couch from Itachi. Their parents had gone to bed about forty-five minutes ago, both bidding Itachi goodbye and telling Sasuke not to stay up too late since he still had school tomorrow. They had sat in silence since then. Not because there weren’t things to say to each other, but because neither of them knew where to start.

Finally, mercifully, Itachi turned to face him and spoke, “I’m sorry for not mentioning I was looking for another job.”

“To be completely honest, after everything else, I sort of forgot about that…” he admitted.

“Yeah, that was a lot,” Itachi agreed, his eyes moving from Sasuke and toward the dining room like he was trying to replay that entire meal in his head.

“Hey,” Sasuke said quietly, scooting just close enough to reach out and touch Itachi’s cheek gently, drawing his attention back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I will be,” Itachi sighed and closed his eyes as he brought his hand up to cover Sasuke’s, leaning into his touch. “I’ve got you after all, right?”

Sasuke smiled. “Always, Itachi.”

Itachi smiled back at him before he let go of Sasuke’s hand and tucked one of his legs underneath him, tapping his fingers idly against his knee. They lapsed into silence again and Sasuke wondered if the space between them seemed wider than it had a few seconds ago. If the silence seemed quieter. If Itachi’s breathing was louder.

His body felt like it was buzzing - yearning - to reach out and touch Itachi again. He’d barely been able to touch him all day, after all, and now that he was right across from him it would be so, so easy to just--

No.

Sasuke reminded himself of where they were and fought back the urge, deciding instead to tug at the hem of his shirt and just keep talking.

If he couldn’t touch Itachi, then he at least wanted to listen to his brother talk.

“So, not that it matters or anything…” he said. “But why did you decide to start looking for another job now?”

“Aside from the obvious reason?” Itachi said, raising an eyebrow to give the answer they both knew: _Kakashi_. Then he hummed and tilted his head just slightly to the side. “I guess I also don’t like the idea of dating a student.”

“But you like the idea of dating your brother?” Sasuke said quietly, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“No, I like the reality of dating _you_ , Sasuke.”

Itachi’s voice was soft and serious when he said it and Sasuke knew what he meant. He obviously felt it, too. Felt that every time they kissed or touched or just sat here and talked like this, that Itachi became a little less his brother in his mind and just a little more like a regular person. Just a man who he happened to care a great deal about.

Their relationship before had just been a building block for what they had become. Like friends becoming lovers.

Itachi would always be his brother, but it felt less like a defining factor to him now and more like just something that he happened to be. The same thing went for him being a teacher as well.

“Well, I won’t be a student much longer, so that’ll be a moot point soon enough,” Sasuke reminded him.

“Fair enough,” Itachi nodded. “It’s also all the more reason to find a job somewhere else.”

“I sure hope you’re not trying to run away from me,” Sasuke said with a little pout. “Because if you are, I don’t think it’s a smart idea to tell me about it beforehand. Or don’t you remember our conversation in Suna?”

“Don’t think you’re going to get rid of me that easily,” Itachi said, chuckling softly. “I’d just thought that maybe…” he paused for a moment and shrugged, rubbing at his arm. “Maybe you had a point when we were out of town. Maybe it’d be better for us to not...be here.”

“Are you saying we should just…?” Sasuke trailed off, not exactly knowing how to articulate the thought of “leave the village” because it seemed more like something to dream about than to reach for, but he bit his lip when Itachi nodded.

“I want to enjoy having a life with you, Sasuke,” Itachi said easily. “A life where people know that we belong to one another. That we love each other. We’ll never be able to do that here, but we don’t _have_ to stay. We can go.”

“Itachi…” he said quietly, reluctantly. Not because he didn’t like the idea - because he did! - but because he didn’t know if it was possible.

All he’d ever known was life in the village after all and his mind couldn’t quite wrap around the idea of being somewhere else. Forever. Sure, he’d brought it up when they were in Suna, but he’d known even then that they had to go home, that they would be back in the village later that same night.

Now he was facing the idea, the _real_ idea, of maybe leaving one day - driving away from almost everything he’d ever known - and just not coming back.

And the thought scared him.

Itachi must have noticed because he moved forward, closing the distance between them on the couch so he could take Sasuke’s face in his hands and kiss him. They both let out a sigh and Sasuke could immediately feel himself relax into Itachi’s kiss. The buzzing in his body quieted when he grabbed fistfuls of Itachi’s shirt to pull him closer until Itachi was pushing him backward and straddling his lap. 

“It’s nothing to worry about right now, darling,” Itachi said quietly against his lips.

“ _Itachi…_ ” he mumbled, maybe because he had been about to reprimand him again for the endearment or maybe not. He wasn’t quite sure, but whatever he’d been about to say stopped short when he hummed approvingly when Itachi’s lips worked down his neck to his clavicle and collarbone.

He showered the sensitive skin there with small nips and licks and kisses that made Sasuke gasp as quietly as he could and clutch Itachi’s back and shoulders and sides, whatever he could possibly grab to try and pull him closer.

One of Itachi’s hands found the hem of his shirt and started to push it up, but through his haze, Sasuke had enough sense to stop him with a shake of his head. Itachi looked up at him questioningly.

“Not here,” Sasuke whispered, feeling close to breathlessness.

Itachi pulled back, an apologetic look gracing his features as he seemed to remember where he was and just what he wasn’t supposed to be doing with Sasuke on their parent’s couch.

“I’m sorry… Maybe I should--”

Sasuke pushed himself up and cut Itachi off with a kiss. Since Itachi had been the one to start it, Sasuke wasn’t about to tell him to stop. “No, not _here_ ,” he said, patting his hand against the couch to convey his meaning. Then he gave his suggestion for an alternative, “My room.”

“Are you sure?” Itachi pressed a few kisses to Sasuke’s jaw and it was clear he’d asked because it was the right thing to do, not because he wanted to stop.

His brother’s morals were endearing to him even now.

“We don’t have to do anything…” Sasuke said in lieu of a strict yes or no answer, giving Itachi an out if he wanted to take it. He wouldn’t blame him; he just hoped he wouldn’t take it. “Not if you don’t want to. We can just--”

Itachi put a finger to his lips to stop him and then got up, pulling Sasuke up with him so Sasuke could lead them to his bedroom, his hand gripping Itachi’s tightly as they padded through the house as quietly as they could.

A thrill shot through him with every step and Sasuke had the vague thought when they stopped in front of his door that this was probably another one of those bad ideas, the ones he couldn’t seem to stop having around Itachi every time his hormones started shouting louder than his mind.

A part of him (a very, _very_ small part) wondered if he should stop. If he should just kiss Itachi goodnight here and tell him that he’d see him tomorrow.

It would be the smart choice. The sane choice. The _right_ choice...

But then Itachi wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s waist, pulling him close until Sasuke’s back was flush against his chest. He brought his lips to Sasuke’s ear and whispered what he knew was his undoing.

“You have no idea how often I used to imagine sneaking into your room like this…”

Itachi’s hand slipped under Sasuke’s shirt and snaked slowly up his chest. His fingers were gentle and sure as they stroked across his stomach and up his sternum before finally coming to rest over his heart.

Sasuke was acutely aware of how it was pounding under Itachi’s fingertips, but he could feel Itachi’s heart thundering just as hard against his back and that made him smile and slowly open his door. His caution, again, thrown to the wind because...well, Itachi.

All at once, Itachi’s hands slipped away and Sasuke spun around in his arms to grab him at the waist and lead him inside.

They had the sense to at least wait until Itachi carefully closed the door with a soft _click_ and then turned the lock on the knob before they met in a kiss.

It was soft and wanting, but not urgent, not rushing to find release. They’d missed each other and they wanted to enjoy this. Enjoy each other.

Sasuke let out a soft moan as they parted and met again, his head tilting just slightly so they could explore one another better. His brother tasted like the coffee he’d had after dinner, slightly bitter and acidic but also sweet. It was a taste that suited him and, strangely enough, it made Sasuke’s knees weak.

Or maybe that could have been because of Itachi’s hand on the small of his back, pressing him close enough that his hips just barely connected with Itachi’s, sending a moan through both of them at the slight, teasing friction.

Whatever the reason, Sasuke pulled away from Itachi to take off his clothes (he’d _missed him_ after all!) and take the last few steps over to his bed, waiting for Itachi to come and take him.

“You’ll have to be quiet,” Itachi said, looking Sasuke over as he unbuttoned his own shirt and tossed it in the direction of Sasuke’s closet.

“I can do that,” he whispered agreeably, feeling a tingle travel along his body when Itachi finished taking off his clothes. He stepped closer to Sasuke and grabbed his hips, quickly becoming the only thing that was holding him back from falling onto the bed.

“Can you?”

Before Sasuke could answer, Itachi guided him down and onto his back. His legs parted immediately to give Itachi space between them, which he settled into before leaning down to put his question to the test by taking one of Sasuke’s nipples into his mouth without any type of warning, suckling it gently.

Sasuke gasped at the unexpected rush of pleasure as Itachi’s tongue licked the bud to hardness before he nipped at it and then moved to the other to repeat the attention, but he didn’t cry out or utter a single word. He just covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the moans that Itachi was trying to pull from him with his wicked tongue.

“Such a good boy,” Itachi said quietly against his skin when he seemed satisfied. His whisper was almost completely drowned out by Sasuke’s panting, but the soft groan that followed his words was all that he needed to know that he’d been heard.

“Itachi…” Sasuke whispered, his eyes half lidded and his mind a little hazy.

He had wanted to say something else. Maybe beg Itachi to just take him now, or maybe just the opposite and drag this out as long as he could. Make him pant and whimper and stop himself from crying out for Itachi as he brought him close to the edge again and again without quite giving him enough until he was delirious with want.

Whatever it had been, it was gone the second Itachi reached down and took his cock in hand, stroking him slowly as he sank his teeth into Sasuke’s neck near his pulse point.

“ _Fuh_ \--” Sasuke bit down harshly on his lip and the taste of his own blood blossomed in his mouth as he stopped himself from stringing together a slew of loud curses that were interspersed with his brother’s name.

He wasn’t passing this test as easily, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as much.

Not when the pain quickly turned to pleasure and coiled tightly, deep inside of him until he was rolling his hips up into his brother’s hand, not caring what Itachi did anymore as long he just _kept doing it_.

But he didn’t.

Why would he?

Itachi was nothing if not a master at torturing him so he pulled away just when Sasuke’s eyes were ready to roll into the back of his head.

“ _No_ , don’t stop…” he half mumbled, half whined, opening his eyes to see Itachi smirking down at him, looking far too satisfied with what he’d done to him.

Itachi brought his hand up to stroke Sasuke’s cheek and he leaned into the touch, pressing kisses to his brother’s wrist and the palm of his hand, hoping that maybe that would convince Itachi to touch him again.

He didn’t, instead his lips came to rest against Sasuke’s ear.

He only said one word, but it was enough.

“ _Beg._ ”

Sasuke’s head fell back and he was unable to stop himself as he opened his mouth and let out a soft, wanton moan.

His mind raced with a litany of words, of things that he thought Itachi might want to hear, of options and curses and ways upon ways upon ways that he could do what his brother asked of him - _demanded_ even.

Nothing sounded better than the truth though.

“I want you, Itachi,” he said, meeting his brother’s eyes as he whispered the words into the small space between their lips. “I want you to take me; make me _yours_.”

A low moan rumbled through Itachi’s chest and Sasuke gently grabbed the hand that was still brushing against his neck, bringing his brother’s fingers to his mouth to press small kisses to the tip of each of them.

“I’ll be quiet.”

He kissed a random pattern along Itachi’s palm, mumbling against his skin.

“I’ll be _good_.”

He licked Itachi’s index finger from base to tip, stopping to suck gently at the tip and enjoy the way his brother’s breath caught as he watched every move he made intently.

“Whatever you want from me.”

Finally, he took three of Itachi’s fingers into his mouth, running his tongue along and around each one, licking at them greedily. Sucking his fingers off with as much willingness and excitement as he had whenever he was putting his mouth to work for Itachi’s pleasure.

Above him, Itachi’s eyes fluttered closed and he let out a small moan, clearly enjoying what Sasuke was doing if the nearly silent, “Fuck,” was anything to go by.

“ _Please_ ,” Sasuke said after he pulled the fingers out of his mouth, enjoying the wet, obscene sounding pop before he guided Itachi’s hand between his legs toward his entrance. “I _need_ you.”

And Itachi gave himself happily.

Naruto eyed Sasuke’s house from where he was hidden in a bush across the street. He’d been here for the last few hours and he was cold.

Why? Well, that was a silly question.

He was cold because he hadn’t brought a jacket.

Of course, when he’d gotten here and taken his place in the bush under the late afternoon sun, he hadn’t been expecting to stay this long. So, why would he have thought to bring his jacket?

Oh wait… That wasn’t the right question, was it?

No, the better question was: why was he sitting here, watching Sasuke’s house in the first place?

That, too, was obvious...

He had to.

It was the only thing he could think to do, the only thing that had made sense after talking with Gaara earlier. He hadn’t known where Sasuke and Itachi had gone so he'd just gone to the first place the voice had told him to go: Itachi's house.

No one had been there though and Naruto had waited for almost an hour, peering in through a small gap in the curtains that looked into the living room, hoping to see…well, he hadn't been too sure about that actually.

After a while though, the voice had encouraged him to go somewhere else, the only other logical place that the two Uchihas would go.

And that was how he'd ended up here, in this prickly bush, digging his fingers into the dirt in front of his crossed legs while he stared intently at Sasuke's house. Waiting.

His eyes burned. His mouth was dry. His legs had gone numb a while ago.

Still, he stayed.

Again, he had to.

It wasn't just the voice that told him that he did, either. No, Naruto told himself as well because Itachi was here. He'd seen him drawing the curtains in the living room not too long ago (or maybe it was hours ago?), so he _knew_ he was here.

He just hadn't left yet.

And _that_ was what bothered Naruto. _That_ was what kept him here in this bush, pulling and biting and picking at his lips and fingers.

Because Itachi didn't live here anymore.

So why hadn't he left?

The voice in his head had an idea, but Naruto tried his best to ignore that. It was a _disgusting_ idea, after all. But…

_The light in Sasuke's room still hasn't turned off…_ the voice noted, and not for the first time.

"Shut up," Naruto whispered back.

Sure, the light was on. So what? Maybe Sasuke had just fallen asleep with the light on? Or maybe he was up reading a book or something.

Yes, neither of those things really explained why Itachi hadn’t left yet, but Naruto was trying to keep a positive attitude. Because a light on in a room didn’t mean that Itachi was _in_ Sasuke’s room or anything.

Alone.

When it was...however late it was.

Naruto shook his head. No. Nope. That _definitely_ wasn’t--

His face fell suddenly as the light in Sasuke’s room turned off, leaving only the streetlight outside Sasuke’s house to burn in Naruto’s eyes as he waited, still unblinking as he watched the front door.

It felt like an eternity before the door opened, but as soon as it did, Naruto wished that it hadn’t. Because stepping out of the house, just like he’d expected, was Itachi. What was unexpected though was the fact that his hair seemed slightly disheveled, with strands falling freely outside of his bun, and that his shirt was wrinkled and unbuttoned at the top.

Naruto tried not to think about the implications of these things. Even as he watched Itachi take down his hair and then put it back up again. Or when he watched him fix his shirt, clenching his teeth harder with every button that Itachi had to do up.

He tried very, very hard.

It wasn’t his fault that it was impossible _not_ to think about though.

It wasn’t his fault that he had to pull out his phone.

It wasn’t his fault that he took a picture.

Sure, it was grainy (he obviously couldn’t use his flash to get some slightly better lighting after all) and yes, there was no actual proof of anything that may or may not have gone on prior to this moment. But this picture wasn’t about proof.

_This_ picture was about seeing it for his own eyes.

The _next ones_ he would get would be about proof, no matter what he had to do to get it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I took two weeks off from writing for some personal reasons, but I've been hard at work the last week on this chapter so I really hope that you enjoy it. It is very, very long. Double my normal word count, but I think you'll like it! :)
> 
> P.S. Sasuke's going to top in this chapter because I felt like it.

_“How much convincing do you think I need to do to get you to stay in bed with me all day tomorrow?”_

Sasuke scoffed around the toothbrush in his mouth when he read the text Itachi sent him early on Friday morning. He rolled his eyes as he stopped mid-brushing and typed out a reply.

_“You tell me. How much convincing would you be willing to do?”_

He had time to finish brushing his teeth and change his shirt before his phone buzzed again as he was walking back into his room. Leaning against the doorframe that connected the two rooms, he opened the message and raised an eyebrow as his eyes scanned over the text a couple of times.

_“To get you out of spending quality time with your ex and leaving me home alone? You name it. I’ll do it.”_

“Mm-mm,” he hummed, shaking his head just slightly. A little smile spread across his lips as he whispered to himself, “I think you’re asking for a lot of trouble there, Itachi.”

He tapped his thumbs against his screen thoughtfully for a moment before he started to type out a reply, but a soft knock at his door made him pause and he looked up.

“Yeah?”

The door opened, and Sasuke was honestly more surprised than he maybe should have been to see that it was his mother on the other side, peeking in and smiling at him when she saw him. She normally wasn’t the type to knock, though, opting instead to just live on what Sasuke assumed was her hope to just never catch him in any type of indecent situation.

So far, she’d been fairly successful, but every time she opened his door, he told himself he probably needed to do a better job of remembering to lock it.

“Look at you!” she exclaimed, gesturing over to him. “Up early and even dressed!”

“Yeah well,” he shrugged and looked back down at his phone to finish typing out his message as he idly commented, “Sometimes, I can even impress myself.”

_“Are you sure you want to make such a bold claim? That’s putting a lot of trust in me not to ask something indecent of you.”_

She giggled at him as he hit send and when he looked back up, she was standing a few feet away from him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Of course, sweetie,” she answered quickly, waving a hand at him. “I just wanted to let you know that I was heading out to the store, and your father had to leave for work early. Since you’re spending the weekend with your brother, I just wanted to say goodbye.”

“Oh, okay, - _Buzzz Buzzz_ \- I’ll…” he trailed off as his eyes flicked down to read the text Itachi sent and even though he bit the inside of his cheek, he wasn’t able to stop the grin that crossed his face.

_“I guess you’ll just have to see how far I’m willing to go then, won’t you?”_

“Now that must be someone pretty special to put a smile like that on your face,” Mikoto said softly.

The statement drew Sasuke’s attention back up to her and he cleared his throat, locking his phone to hold it close to his chest, like he was expecting her to come over and read through his messages even though she didn’t make a move toward him.

“It’s no one,” he said quickly, shaking his head.

Mikoto nodded and watched him for long enough that it started to make him a little uncomfortable. Just when he was about to ask her why she was staring at him, she moved to sit down on his bed, patting the space next to her as an invitation.

“Come sit with me for a minute, sweetheart.”

Sasuke’s fingers tightened around his phone and he glanced down at it for the briefest of moments before training his eyes back on her and walking over cautiously. He sat down and put his phone, screen down, next to him on the bed, away from where she could see or reach for it.

“I know we haven’t really talked about it since dinner the other night, but your father and I… We both love you so much, and I want you to know that there is nothing that can change that.”

Sasuke looked down at her words, happy to hear them. Because she was right. After he’d come out at dinner, there’d more or less been nothing said about his confession. Life had just continued.

“I appreciate that, mom.”

“So I also hope you know that it’s okay if you have a boyfriend, Sasuke.”

She put a hand on his knee and he looked back over at her. Her face was open and calm. Still happy, with that wistful, carefree smile she normally wore, but there was something just a little more serious in her gaze. The sort of overbearing energy she normally had was subdued and Sasuke had the realization that it was because she was trying very hard to comfort him and make sure that he felt as normal as she had assumed he’d felt before coming out.

That thought almost made him laugh and then, strangely (or maybe not so much), it almost made him cry. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever seemed so…

So much like a _mom_.

Or like the mom he’d wanted, at least. Someone he could talk to about things, instead of being talked _at_ and told what he needed to do to be what she thought was the best version of himself.

“I…”

He stopped himself and turned his gaze away as he wrung his hands together.

Mikoto patted his knee and then removed her hand. “It’s okay, honey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I understand.”

With that, she stood up, ready to leave.

Sasuke wasn’t quite sure why he did what he did next. It could have been because he wanted to hold on to this moment with his mother for just a few more seconds, or maybe it was just that he desperately wanted to tell someone _something_ about it all.

Whatever the reason, before Mikoto could step away from him and leave, Sasuke blurted out (a little more loudly than he’d meant to), “I am dating someone!”

She turned to look at him and smiled.

“That’s wonderful, honey!” she said, sitting back down beside him. “Do you want to tell me about him?”

Sasuke’s eyes widened and before he could say anything else he stood up and walked a few steps away, pressing his hand to his mouth.

_What did I just do?_

“Or not,” Mikoto quickly said from behind him. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, Sasuke.”

Sasuke bit down harshly on his lower lip as he turned a little bit, enough to see Mikoto still sitting on his bed, looking calm. Open and waiting for him to either spill his guts or ask her to leave.

And it scared Sasuke how much he _wanted_ to tell her. How much his brain was racing to come up with an argument of _why_ he should tell her, even.

_It’s good to be honest_ , his mind pointed out.

Normally, he’d agree, but he supposed that _normally_ he wouldn’t be in this situation: talking to his mother about how he was dating his brother. So, honesty didn’t really seem like the way to go.

Because there _wasn’t_ a way to go about this, he reminded himself. He couldn’t say anything. It was a secret.

_That you just practically spilled anyway_ , his mind reasoned.

No! _They_ were a secret.

And no matter how much he might want to say something, no matter how the feelings were just bursting to get out of him… He couldn’t.

_But it would make you feel better…_ his mind whispered.

“Honey,” Mikoto spoke up, breaking into his thoughts, into the fight he was having with himself. She had stood up from the bed and taken a step toward him. “It’s okay.”

And that, just those soft, concerned words was all it took for Sasuke to break. To give into the part of him that wanted to be selfish. Just for a minute, just long enough to feel normal. A little bit more normal in regards to his relationship.

After all, he reminded himself, he didn't have to say who it was.

So he spoke.

“He’s…smart,” Sasuke started hesitantly, like that small admission had given everything away.

“That’s always good,” Mikoto said as she took another step over, nodding encouragingly at him. “Is he nice?”

The genuine care in her voice made Sasuke’s lip tremble and he let out a small broken noise as he nodded quickly.

“He’s _so nice_ , mom,” he admitted quietly, pressing his hands to his chest as he let more words, more small confessions, start to tumble out of him. “And funny, and thoughtful, and sweet--”

“And cute, I assume?” Mikoto piped up, smiling at him.

Sasuke let out a little laugh and he nodded.

“He’s beautiful. And I… I’ve cared about him for a really long time, but I didn’t really realize just how much until recently. He told me how he felt about me and...nothing’s been the same since then. I’ve been so happy. _He_ makes me really, _really_ happy, mom.”

“Well then, he sounds like the right kind of guy,” Mikoto said with a little laugh.

Sasuke nodded again, blinking back the tears he felt trying to spill over as he felt the weight of their secrecy lift off of him just a little bit with every word.

“Yeah, I… I think you’d really like him.”

“Oh, sweetheart!” Mikoto exclaimed, crossing over to Sasuke to take him in her arms, hugging him tightly. “I’m sure I’d love him! If he makes you happy, then that’s what matters.”

She held him for a long time. Long enough that Sasuke felt the knot of panic that had settled in his chest loosen and he hugged her back. She was a few inches shorter than he remembered the last time they’d hugged, but it was still nice and it was something he hadn’t realized he’d been needing.

“I know that it’s not really any of my business,” she finally said when she pulled away from him. “And you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but...is it Naruto that you’re dating?”

“No,” he answered quickly, shaking his head. “No, Naruto and I are just friends.”

The word felt strange in his mouth and more like a lie than anything else.

“Have I ever met your boyfriend before, then? Would I know him?”

Sasuke opened his mouth and almost said yes, but the voice in his head hushed him and after taking another moment to think about it, Sasuke knew that he needed to listen.

Because if he said yes, he knew there was a very good chance that she would, knowingly or not, start scrutinizing every guy he was ever within a two foot radius of. And if she did that, then Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take her to figure out that he and Itachi were standing too close, talking too low and secretly to each other, smiling at one another and spending entirely too much time together?

Would it be a few days? A few weeks? A few years?

However long, that one little word was far too risky to put out there.

So no, he decided, he couldn’t give her that much.

“It’s...complicated, mom.”

“That’s okay, dear,” she answered. “You can introduce us to him in your own time, if you decide to.”

She didn’t sound disappointed or even upset that he wouldn’t tell her. She sounded like it actually _was okay_ that he wasn’t opening up to her about every single detail, and Sasuke couldn’t even begin to express how that made him feel.

“I… Thank you,” he whispered.

Mikoto smiled at him again and patted his shoulder. “I’d better get off to the store.”

“Okay,” Sasuke said. “I’ll see you when I get home on Sunday.”

“Okay, sweetie. I hope you have a nice weekend with your brother. Tell him your father and I say hi when you see him today.”

“I will.”

He watched her walk across his room to leave, but when she got to his door, she grabbed the doorknob and then stopped and looked back at him.

“I just want you to know,” she said quietly. “Whoever he is, he’s lucky to have someone like you in his life. I just hope he knows how special you are.”

Sasuke pressed his lips tightly together. He hadn’t expected to hear something like that, or even how much it meant to him to hear it coming from her in the first place. He closed his eyes and let himself believe, for as long as it took him to take a steadying breath, that she would still mean that even if she knew the truth.

“He does know, I think,” he whispered when he opened his eyes, nodding at her.

“Good. I’m glad. I love you, sweetheart.”

“Love you, too, mom.”

With another smile, she left, closing his door behind her.

And then he was alone again.

Sasuke listened as the front door opened and closed and then to the sounds of the car starting out front as he breathed and replayed the conversation he’d just had in his mind.

First just one time, but then he did it again. Then again.

Because... _holy shit!_ He’d just told someone that he was dating Itachi.

Sure, obviously it hadn’t been in so many words, but he also hadn’t had to lie about anything! And that was really what made him feel good. Like their relationship could actually be real to other people as well.

People they knew.

The realization of that hit Sasuke so hard that he couldn’t help but laugh at himself, feeling so giddy that he felt like skipping when he went over to his bed and grabbed his phone. He flopped down onto his back on his bed and dialed his brother’s number without a second thought.

“Hey baby,” Itachi said after he picked up and Sasuke smiled when he felt his heart skip a beat at the greeting.

“Good morning,” Sasuke replied cheerfully.

“It’s new to hear you sounding so chipper this early. What happened to put you in such a good mood?”

Sasuke let out a little laugh. “Well, I just finished having a talk with mom…”

“And that put you in a _good_ mood? What could that possibly have been about then?”

“My boyfriend,” Sasuke answered. “And how lucky he is to have me.”

“Well I’m _positive_ that he knows how lucky he is,” Itachi said with a laugh. “But now I’m curious how that conversation came up.”

Sasuke smiled and turned onto his side. “I _might_ need to get a little better about grinning like a fool every time you text me.”

Itachi hummed thoughtfully, “I don’t know about that. You have a beautiful smile, and I like the idea of being able to bring that out.”

“You’re ridiculous,” he replied, rolling his eyes. He reached over to the bag that was laying on his bed and opened it, peeking in from where he was lying to see the clothes he had packed last night, in preparation for this weekend.

Then, like he was looking for trouble, he asked, “You aren’t even going to ask me?”

“Ask you what?”

“If I _actually_ told her about us.”

He could hear Itachi shifting over the phone before he answered, very confidently, “I know that you didn’t.”

“How?”

“Well,” Itachi started. “For one, I trust that you would talk with me first before deciding to just tell someone around here about us. And, you know, _especially_ our parents."

“Fair enough,” Sasuke replied. “Is there a “for two”?”

Itachi scoffed. “I think you mean _second_ \--”

“Actually, I think I like for two better.”

“Fine, _for two_ , god, that sounds so awful to my ears. No, I can’t--I can’t stick with that…” Itachi let out an exaggerated “uh-uh” before he continued, “ _Second_ , I know you didn’t because if you had, there would be no way that mom wouldn’t be blowing up my phone, probably threatening to reclaim the life she gave me for corrupting you.”

“Hey now,” Sasuke sat up suddenly, looking a little offended by that. “Why couldn’t she think that _I_ corrupted _you_.”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Itachi asked, chuckling.

Sasuke pouted a little bit. “No… I mean, maybe! I _could_ be a corrupting influence!”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Itachi said placatingly, a smile clear in his voice as he spoke. “I have just been _absolutely_ corrupted by you.”

“See! Now, that wasn’t so hard to admit, was it?”

Itachi burst into a fit of laughter that pulled Sasuke in as well and they laughed until Sasuke was gasping about how much his face hurt from smiling so much. And then they laughed at that as well.

When they finally settled down and Sasuke could breathe without his ribs hurting, Itachi sighed happily over the line, “God, Sasuke, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

There was a beat of silence before Itachi said, “Hey, we’ve both still got some time this morning, why don’t you come over? You can drop your stuff off and I’d like to see you.”

Sasuke pulled his phone away from his ear to check the time. As their mother had been so keen to point out, he’d gotten up way earlier than he’d even been planning to in order to make sure he had everything packed for the weekend, so Itachi was right. He did still have plenty of time before he needed to get to school.

“Sure,” he said, putting his phone back to his ear. “I can be over in ten minutes.”

“Great, I’ll see you soon. And, Sasuke?”

“Yeah?”

“I _am_ the luckiest person in the world to be able to call you mine.”

Sasuke looked down, feeling a little embarrassed to hear Itachi say that, but it was nice.

“Yeah well,” he said quietly. “I’m just as lucky to have you. I’ll see you soon.”

Okay, maybe he had lied.

It had actually taken twelve minutes to get over to Itachi’s, but in his defense, there had been a stray cat walking the street that had come over to him for a pet and he hadn’t been able to resist. Itachi would understand that and wouldn’t begrudge him the affections of a cute little cat, so he wasn’t too worried about being a couple minutes behind when he unlocked Itachi’s door and went inside.

“Hey,” he said in greeting as he put his stuff down on the dining table after he took his shoes off.

Itachi was sitting in the middle of the couch with his back to Sasuke and didn’t say anything in response or even acknowledge that Sasuke was there, which made him frown and walk over.

As he got closer though, he realized that Itachi just hadn’t heard him because he had his earphones in and was working on something on his laptop. So, seeing the opportunity presented to him, Sasuke smirked as he stopped behind Itachi and looked down at him, noticing that he had his shirt unbuttoned and open as he worked.

Sasuke hummed quietly in appreciation at the sight before he bent over, quickly covering his brother’s eyes with one hand while he gently removed one of his earphones with the other so that he could whisper into his ear.

“It’s almost like you’re waiting for someone to take advantage of you.”

Itachi smiled and tilted his head to the side, taking in a quiet breath when Sasuke dropped the earphone he’d taken out to ghost his fingers along Itachi’s neck, enjoying the shiver that he felt run through him.

“And if I was?”

“Then I suppose I’d have to ask who you were waiting for,” Sasuke answered playfully.

He pressed soft, barely there kisses down Itachi’s neck, tugging his collar away just slightly so he could nip and suck at the skin on his shoulder to leave a mark that would be easily hidden by his shirt later.

Itachi made a small noise at the attention, something between a moan and a gasp before he was able to answer in a quiet whisper, “My boyfriend.”

“Well, I don’t think he’ll mind if I just take a little bit of what you’re offering.”

His hand slid down his brother’s chest as he spoke, pinching Itachi’s left nipple between his thumb and forefinger, gently thumbing and twisting at the bud as he enjoyed the strangled gasp Itachi let out.

“Do you like that?” he asked teasingly when Itachi’s head fell to the side and he strained forward slightly.

“ _Yes_ ,” Itachi whispered breathlessly.

He was searching and silently asking for more and Sasuke gave in. Gave his brother what he wanted because he liked the addictive sounds Itachi made when he stopped abusing his left nipple and moved to the right one, giving it the same treatment as the first until it was hard and pebbled like the other.

“Sasuke…” Itachi groaned when he finally pulled away so he could round the couch, enjoying the way Itachi watched him as he grabbed the laptop out of his lap and put it and Itachi’s earphones on the coffee table behind him.

“Was this the reason you asked me to come over?”

Sasuke asked the question as he straddled Itachi’s lap, noticing the light pink flush that dusted his brother’s chest and the way he was panting, just a little bit, just enough that Sasuke felt proud of the fact that he’d done that to him.

“No,” Itachi answered, his voice a deep rumble in his chest.

“Are you sure?” Sasuke whispered, brushing his lips against Itachi’s.

Itachi’s breath hit his lips and Sasuke smiled innocently as he brought his hands back to his brother’s chest to rub both of his thumbs over Itachi’s nipples, teasing him again. Enough that this time he pulled a low moan from his brother that made Itachi’s eyes flutter closed.

“Because you sure seem eager for me to touch you.”

“ _Sasuke_ ,” he said quietly, almost like a warning. He grasped at Sasuke’s thighs and leaned forward, trying to connect their lips in a kiss, but Sasuke pulled away and smirked when Itachi sighed in irritation and opened his eyes. But then Itachi swallowed, and his irritation turned into desperation as he begged, “Please, kiss me.”

Sasuke couldn’t help the shiver that ran through him at the slightly broken plea and he took a deep breath before he slid his hands up to push Itachi’s shirt off of his shoulders, eyeing the mark he’d left with pride.

“Then tell me that you’re mine.”

Itachi’s tongue darted out for just a second to wet his lips and Sasuke watched it, waiting for his brother’s admission as he thought about what that tongue had done to him in the past and, if he was lucky, would do to him in a minute.

Instead of giving Sasuke the confession he’d so kindly requested though, Itachi grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward into a bruising kiss. Sasuke made a surprised sort of noise before he melted against his brother, enjoying the way that Itachi licked into his mouth to taste him before he coaxed Sasuke’s tongue out and into his own mouth.

Quickly, Sasuke realized that his brother was handing himself over, letting him explore and dominate him like he had the other day and Sasuke moaned quietly into his brother’s mouth before he broke away from him.

“I thought this wasn’t the reason you asked me over here,” Sasuke panted out softly.

He kissed along Itachi’s jaw and back down his neck until he was sucking another mark into his brother’s skin along his collarbone. Itachi’s head fell back and his hips canted up against Sasuke’s, making them both suck in a sharp breath.

“It wasn’t,” Itachi agreed, looking at Sasuke through hooded eyes. “But now I want you.”

“Then you know what I want,” Sasuke said sweetly. “Just tell me that you’re mine.”

Itachi wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s neck and pulled him close, pressing a few quick, soft kisses against his lips before he whispered, “Then make me yours and I will.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened at that and he pushed himself away from Itachi again, this time looking at him questioningly as he itched to know just what his brother meant.

Of course, he had an idea... At the very least he knew what those words meant when _he_ said them, but this was Itachi…

“What do you--”

_Riiing, Buzzz, Riiing_

He was cut off by a soft tinkling ringing that was accompanied by a loud, vibrating buzz that made him look around, trying to find the source of the noise so he could make it stop and get back to asking Itachi just what he meant.

Itachi let out a loud, irritated groan as he pulled his phone out from under a pillow near them on the couch. Sasuke could see the alarm that had popped up as the culprit of the intrusive noise before Itachi tapped his phone’s screen to shut it off.

“I think I’m going to have to ban our phones this weekend…” Itachi mumbled to himself with a shake of his head. He unlocked his phone and checked on something quickly before he locked it again and then kissed Sasuke.

“I’ve gotta go.”

“Woah, wait,” Sasuke said, shaking his head. “Weren’t we just in the middle of something?”

“I’m sorry,” Itachi said apologetically.

Then, just for good measure, he took Sasuke’s face in his hands and pecked him quickly on the lips three more times.

“Trust me, no one is more sorry than me right now, but if I don’t head out then I’m gonna be late for my interview.”

Sasuke made an unhappy sound, but nodded. He wasn’t about to argue and hold Itachi up; the last thing he wanted was for Itachi to make a bad first impression because of him and possibly miss out on an opportunity.

Ugh, being a nice boyfriend sucked sometimes!

“Okaaay,” Sasuke said, sounding very put upon, but he put his hands up so Itachi would know he was being serious. “But...can we, like, come back to this at some point?”

He didn’t add the “because I have some questions about what you just said,” that was pushing to tumble out of his mouth, but he figured he would bring that up later at a more appropriate time.

“Yes, _please_ ,” Itachi said, sounding desperate before he gave Sasuke another kiss and then gently urged him out of his lap. Sasuke plopped onto the cushion next to Itachi and watched as his brother stood up, shrugged his shirt back onto his shoulders and then started to button it up.

Quicker than Sasuke liked, Itachi looked more or less put together again and once he fixed his hair, the only thing that would make anyone wonder if something was off was the bulge in his pants. Which Sasuke wasn’t able to take his eyes off of it for longer than he was proud to admit.

He sighed and laid back on the couch, trying to think of anything other than his desire to undo Itachi’s pants and help him alleviate his problem. So he focused on Itachi slipping his phone into his pocket instead. And then on the way he put his hands on his hips. And then the slightly crooked smile that he shot down at Sasuke as he stood looking down at him.

"See something you like?"

Sasuke nodded and then said idly, “You’re just the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Itachi extended a hand out to Sasuke and he took it, allowing his brother to pull him up and into his arms. Itachi brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Sasuke’s face and looked at him fondly.

“Then you’ve obviously never looked in a mirror.”

“Shush,” Sasuke shook his head and looked down, a little embarrassed. He knew Itachi thought he was attractive. Heck, _Sasuke_ knew he was attractive, but he would never begin to think himself better looking than his brother. “Don’t you need to go?”

“Oh, trying to get rid of me now?” Itachi joked.

Sasuke shrugged. “Well the faster you leave the faster you get back, right?”

“Fair enough, and you need to get to school anyway.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but nodded and let Itachi lead him by the hand over to the front door. Itachi grabbed his keys and wallet before they both put on their shoes and then hesitated, neither of them reaching out to open the door.

“Please be safe, okay?” Sasuke said quietly.

Itachi smiled and Sasuke noticed, maybe for the first time, the little crinkles in the corners of his eyes. Seeing that made Sasuke smile himself because it was a sign to him of how happy Itachi was, how happy that he, hopefully, had made him.

“I will be. I love you.”

Sasuke reached up and cupped Itachi’s cheek, pulling him into a soft, chaste kiss.

“I love you, too, Itachi.”

Itachi reached for the door after that and they both stepped outside to face whatever their days were going to hold for them until they were together again.

His day ended up going fine.

His classes were more or less just an excuse to chit-chat with people now, not that he did because the only people he _really_ talked to were Sakura and Naruto and well…

_Obviously_ that wasn’t much of an option anymore.

So, he’d just been waiting the day out, minding his own business and happily texting his brother after he’d gotten back into town after his interview, which apparently went as well as one could hope. At least, that was what Itachi said.

Which was why Sasuke hadn’t been expecting anything out of the ordinary once school ended and he headed outside, stopping just on the other side of the gates so he could wait for Itachi to come and pick him up.

And at first, nothing was wrong.

He was watching as cars and classmates passed him by, some of them nodding or telling him to have a good weekend which he wished them as well. Somewhere behind him he could hear Sakura chatting rather loudly with Ino and he figured once she was done talking with her then Sakura would spot him and come over.

But as Sasuke waited for her, he spotted a strange sight across the street.

Naruto.

Or...at least he was pretty sure it was Naruto.

After a week of not seeing him though, it was hard to say with any type of certainty that the blond boy he saw skulking away from school with his backpack slung over his shoulder actually was his friend.

Because if it was then something was definitely wrong.

Naruto walked a little slumped forward and his hair was sort of flat against his head, at least until he brought his hand up and ran it through his hair. Then he scrubbed his hand against his face and stopped dead in his tracks on the sidewalk.

“He’s looking even worse today…”

Sasuke looked over at Sakura when she stopped next to him and spoke, watching Naruto with him.

“Did you talk to him?”

Sakura shook her head. “He didn’t even bother to come to class. I don’t know where he’s been hiding though and everyone has been starting to get worried about him.”

“I know…” Sasuke said quietly. “A couple of people have asked me about him this week, but I never know what to say.”

Because _“sorry guys, he’s avoiding me,”_ just didn’t seem like the best thing to throw out there when people had already been giving him a hard side-eye since their break up.

“Maybe I should go talk to him,” Sakura said quietly to herself.

Around them, a few of their other classmates stopped, noticing Naruto as well. Some of them whispered to each other, pointing at Naruto before looking over at Sasuke and then shaking their heads. Others weren’t as subtle and said a few choice words very pointedly in his direction as they walked by.

“Liar.”

“Broke his heart.”

“Maybe he cheated.”

“Should be ashamed.”

Sasuke turned his gaze lower and lower with every word that he heard until he was staring straight down at the ground. Probably looking as guilty as he felt. Because every single word was true.

“Tck, don’t listen to them, Sasuke,” Sakura said, shooting a couple people dirty looks before she put her hand on Sasuke’s arm.

He shrugged her hand away and looked up to see Naruto just a little further down the street. “No, they’re right, Sakura. I should be ashamed, and I… I should be the one to go talk to him.”

“Are you sure?” she asked him hesitantly.

“No…” he answered, shaking his head. “But it’s probably the right thing to do.”

Before Sakura could try to talk him out of it, which he would have let her do without a second thought, Sasuke jogged across the street.

“Naruto!” he called out.

Which caught the attention of Naruto. As well as the rest of the school that was still milling around outside. He didn’t even have to look back to know that.

“S-Sasuke…” Naruto stuttered out as he stopped and watched him, wide-eyed. Even going so far as to take a few steps back when Sasuke came to a stop in front of him.

That made Sasuke realize he’d made a mistake in coming over. It was a little too late now, though, so he rubbed at his arm and just decided to follow through.

“Hey, uh… How’ve you been?”

He pressed his lips hard together after he heard himself ask the question, immediately feeling ridiculous.

How had he been?

That was _obvious!_ How stupid was he to ask something like that?

Naruto though, didn’t seem to feel the same way. Or at least he didn’t say as much when he answered.

“Um, you know… Fine, I guess? I mean...”

As much as I can be.

Sasuke knew that was what he’d been about to say, but had stopped himself. And Sasuke didn’t question it. He just nodded and cleared his throat as he tried to find something else to say.

Something that, preferably, wouldn’t make him feel like a complete jackass once it came out of his mouth.

“People have been worried about you, Naruto...” he finally settled on.

Naruto’s eyes flicked over Sasuke's shoulder and he assumed that he was looking at the people who were probably still watching them. Waiting to see how their interaction would go.

“Have you been worried?”

Naruto still wasn’t looking at him as he asked the question, his eyes trained, unmoving on something behind him that made him start to turn so he could look and see what had Naruto’s attention.

Just as Sasuke moved to look though, Naruto's eyes snapped back to him and he stepped forward to put his hand on his arm, repeating his question and keeping Sasuke’s attention on him.

“Have _you_ been worried, Sasuke?”

The forcefulness of the question this time made Sasuke narrow his eyes, but he nodded.

“I mean, yeah, Naruto. I haven’t seen you in a week. Of course I’ve been worried,” he said slowly.

Naruto nodded. “Then why haven’t you texted me? Why haven’t you asked how I’ve been?”

“I…”

Well, Naruto had him there.

“Sakura has. And Neji, Kiba, Lee, Ino… Probably everyone that you say has been worried. Everyone except _you_.”

Sasuke floundered at that. He didn’t really think he should just outright admit to the fact that it had been too awkward to think about reaching out. That he had been sure he was the last person Naruto probably wanted to hear from. 

But now that Naruto brought it up, Sasuke wondered if he'd been wrong about that.

“Okay, I admit it. I’ve been a shitty friend,” Sasuke said quickly. Just like this morning, the word tasted foreign in his mouth. “I should have talked to you. I should have asked, so I apologize about that.”

“I don’t want you to apologize, Sasuke. I just want you to tell me the truth.”

“About what?” Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Naruto’s eyes flicked back over his shoulder again, but this time it was just for a second. Long enough for Sasuke to notice, but not necessarily worry.

“About how you feel about me,” Naruto answered.

Okay, this conversation had just taken a turn Sasuke hadn’t expected.

He looked at Naruto for a long time, trying to figure out just why he was bringing this up before he finally answered cautiously.

“You _know_ how I feel about you, Naruto. We’ve already talked about this…”

“No,” Naruto shook his head. “You talked and I listened, but now I need you to listen, Sasuke.”

There was a beat after that before Naruto surged forward, taking Sasuke’s face in his hands and kissing him hard on the mouth. Sasuke’s eyes widened and he immediately shoved Naruto away, taking a step back from the blond as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

Behind him, back across the street, a loud murmur rose up among the people who were watching them and a car door closed.

“What the hell, Naruto!” Sasuke exclaimed.

Naruto’s eyes flicked past him again.

“I love you, Sasuke. I’ve loved you since middle school, and I know you love me, too.”

“No, I _don’t_ , Naruto,” Sasuke shot back.

Naruto shook his head and argued, “You _do_. If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t have told me you liked me. You wouldn’t have kissed me!”

“I was confused! I hadn’t…”

“You hadn’t what, Sasuke?” Naruto asked when he trailed off.

Sasuke refused to answer. He couldn’t tell Naruto the truth, that he had confused his feelings of friendship with attraction since he’d only ever really been seriously attracted to one person before: Itachi. That he’d been too naive to realize that that’s what it was. And yes, he’d figured that out too little, too late; he’d done damage to Naruto and their friendship that he couldn’t fix now.

But he _loved_ Itachi. He knew he did. He could feel it in the depths of his soul.

And there was nothing that Naruto could do to change that.

“It doesn’t matter,” he finally said. “It’s over, Naruto. _We_ are over.”

Naruto clenched his hands into fists at his side and Sasuke knew he’d struck a nerve. But just as quickly as Naruto seemed to get frustrated, it was wiped away like it had never been there at all.

“No, we’re not.”

Blue eyes quickly flicked again as Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, to tell Naruto to let him go and move on with his life, but he was silenced when Naruto stepped toward him again and kissed him. Again.

This time though, he held on tightly to Sasuke’s upper arms, gripping him so hard that it hurt, and not in a good way. Not like the way that Itachi could turn his pain into pleasure. This was just a hard, pinching ache that made Sasuke flinch as he tried to pull away, pushing at Naruto’s chest and idly marveling at just how strong the blond was.

The murmur from behind him grew louder once again, thundering in his ears as he noted with a sort of detachment that he could hear two very specific voices yelling out through everything else.

“Naruto, stop!”

That was Sakura and she sounded frantic. Sasuke could hear her sneakers pounding against the pavement as she ran over to break them up.

“Sasuke!”

Sasuke’s eyes widened and he tried again to push Naruto away from him, to no avail, when he heard the second voice: Itachi.

His brother sounded furious and before Sasuke knew what was happening, Itachi put his hand on Naruto’s chest and pushed him a few steps away, not letting him go even after he broke them apart.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Itachi asked just as Sakura came to a stop beside Sasuke.

“Sasuke, are you okay?” she whispered to him.

She touched him gently on the arm, where the pain from where Naruto grabbed him grew deeper, sinking into his bones. He flinched away from her and she drew her hand back immediately.

“We were talking,” Naruto answered Itachi, looking him dead in the eyes. Unafraid.

Itachi gripped Naruto’s shirt in his fist and from the angle that Sasuke was at, he could see the way his brother’s jaw clenched.

“You--”

“Itachi,” he interrupted quickly, taking a step forward. “I’m fine.”

It might have been a lie, but no one needed to know that he was shaking on the inside.

He put his hand on Itachi’s arm and although it took a second longer than Sasuke would have liked, Itachi released Naruto’s shirt and dropped his hand. Gently, Sasuke guided his brother back a step so he could look at Naruto.

Still, the blond looked completely unfazed. He’d probably just looked death in the face and Sasuke was stunned to see that Naruto looked...almost giddy about it? There was a small smile playing at Naruto’s lips. One that he was trying and failing to hide as he stared Itachi down for a long moment before looking at Sasuke when he stepped closer to him. 

“Why did you do that, Naruto?” Sasuke finally asked.

“I already told you, Sasuke. I love you.”

“Naruto--” Sakura started, but Sasuke held up his hand.

He stared at Naruto, and felt guilty.

He’d done this to him, to them, to their friendship.

His confusion, his mistake, had brought them to this point and Sasuke knew he had no one to blame other than himself.

Right now though, he also knew that the friendship he and Naruto had once shared was completely gone.

And after what Naruto had just done…

“We can’t be friends anymore, Naruto.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure he ever wanted it back again.

Naruto shrugged. “We don’t have to be friends for you to love me, Sasuke.”

Sasuke took a deep breath and started to argue, “I don’t--”

“Sasuke,” Itachi stopped him. His voice was level, calm, not at all betraying the fury Sasuke was sure he felt under the surface. “Let’s just go.”

It took him a moment to agree, but eventually he nodded. He wanted to reach out to Itachi and take his hand, let his brother lead him back to the car and then make him forget what had just happened, but he reminded himself that he couldn’t do that.

So instead, he took a step back and before he turned around and left, he shot Naruto one last look.

“Do _not_ come to Sakura’s tomorrow. I don’t want you there.”

“It’s not up to you, Sasuke,” Naruto said easily.

He didn’t argue. He didn’t roll his eyes or even get angry. He just turned around and started to walk away, vaguely listening as Sakura spoke up once he and Itachi were a few steps away.

“Naruto… I think Sasuke’s right…”

He didn’t catch the rest as he got into Itachi’s car.

Once Itachi closed the driver side door, they sat in silence. Itachi didn’t move to start the car or even buckle his seatbelt and Sasuke could feel how angry he was.

“How long have you been here?”

He glanced over and saw Itachi grip the steering wheel tightly. Heard the creaking noise the leather made as it struggled not to buckle under Itachi’s hand. Thankfully, the wheel could handle the strain, but Sasuke didn’t know if it could handle it by much.

“Obviously long enough.”

With that, Itachi buckled his seatbelt and started the car. He took in a breath before he flipped on his turn signal and pulled away from the curb where he’d parked.

As they started to drive away, Sasuke chanced a small look back to where they’d all been a moment ago. Naruto was gone now, but Sakura was standing on the sidewalk still, typing furiously on her phone and shaking her head.

They drove in absolute silence for the five minutes it took to get to Itachi’s house, and once they pulled into the driveway and the car turned off, Itachi immediately got out. Sasuke flinched when the car door slammed behind him and he just watched as Itachi walked up to the house, unlocked the door and disappeared inside.

Left alone, Sasuke turned his eyes down to stare at his hands laying limply in his lap. He wondered if he should go back to their parents house. Give Itachi some space and time to cool off and then maybe just call him later.

That would be running away from the problem though and Sasuke knew that. And while he hadn’t done anything wrong (because, duh, it wasn’t like he had kissed Naruto), Itachi still had every right to be upset about what had happened.

And running away wasn’t the answer. They needed to talk.

So Sasuke took a deep breath, got out of the car and headed inside.

Itachi was sitting at the dining table, his leg bouncing up and down quickly and his fingers tapping distractedly on the tabletop. As soon as Sasuke closed the door behind him though, Itachi looked at him and stood up.

“Are you okay?” Itachi asked.

Sasuke let out a breath and felt his shoulders slump forward. Itachi’s voice was soft and he looked at Sasuke with just as much care and concern as he normally did nowadays. There wasn’t any hint of anger or hatred or distrust and Sasuke thought he might cry.

“You aren’t mad?”

“Sasuke…” Itachi said quietly. He crossed over to him and touched his cheek gently. “Of course not. Not at you anyway.”

A broken laugh pushed its way out of Sasuke and he felt his chest ache.

“The way you’d walked away, I was worried…”

“No,” Itachi shook his head. “I’m sorry. I just… I needed a minute.”

Sasuke nodded. He could understand that.

“Are you okay now?” Sasuke asked.

Itachi scoffed. “I think that’s severely up for debate, but that’s not important right now. Are _you_ okay, Sasuke?”

“Not important?” Sasuke shot back. “Itachi I thought you were going to kill my fr…”

The word died on his lips… Friend.

He and Naruto weren’t friends anymore.

It would take a little getting used to, but it had felt like the only thing he could have done after what happened. Being friends just wasn’t the answer for them anymore.

“The way he _touched_ you, Sasuke…”

Itachi pulled his hand back from Sasuke and clenched it the same way Sasuke had seen him do when he’d grabbed Naruto. After a second, his brother seemed to remember himself though and dropped his hand to his side.

Again, Itachi had a mask of calm on his face.

“Please answer my question, Sasuke. Are you okay?”

Sasuke nodded, but then just as quickly he shook his head.

“I, uh… I’m not sure.”

And he wasn’t sure. How was he supposed to feel after something like that?

“That’s okay,” Itachi said, he reached out and placed his hands on Sasuke’s upper arms, right where Naruto had grabbed him. He was sure that his brother meant to be gentle, and maybe he was being gentle, but it hurt when Itachi touched him and he sucked in a pained gasp and winced.

Concern immediately furrowed Itachi’s brow and he took his hands away from Sasuke, holding them up so he could see that he wasn’t trying to do anything to hurt him.

“I’m just going to take a look, okay?” Itachi asked, gesturing to Sasuke’s arm. At the sleeves that were just long enough to cover up whatever damage Naruto had done.

Sasuke nodded and tried not to flinch again when Itachi leaned closer and touched him, pushing his sleeve up and then gasping at what he saw.

“He hurt you…”

Sasuke looked over at his arm when he heard the shocked whisper from Itachi. His eyes widened when he saw the dark purple bruises on his skin that were definitely in the shape of a hand.

“Please don’t hurt him,” he said automatically.

Itachi’s eyes flicked up and met his, staring at him like he was trying to answer some question that he wouldn’t ask. Finally, he let go of Sasuke’s sleeve and straightened up.

“I don’t know why you’d want to protect him from anything after that,” Itachi said, shaking his head. “But I’m not going to do anything.”

Sasuke sighed in relief. “Thank you. I just… I want to forget that it happened. Is that okay? Can you just help me forget about it?”

A sad smile pulled at one corner of Itachi’s mouth, but he nodded.

“Of course, Sasuke. Whatever you want.”

Naruto hadn’t planned for what had happened.

Honestly, he’d been thrilled that Sasuke had come and talked to him, but what had happened after wasn’t his fault. It _wasn’t_.

It was Itachi’s.

When he saw Itachi’s car pull up behind Sasuke, he knew that the elder Uchiha would be watching them. At least, if he was right about what was going on between them, then Itachi would be watching. Intently.

Naruto would be.

Naruto _had been_.

He just hadn’t been able to get any pictures of the two of them together yet. Well, not doing anything unbrotherly at least, so he had to do it. He had to put his theory to the test.

So, sure, he kissed Sasuke.

A part of him had felt bad about it, because he was making Sasuke uncomfortable and that was, honest to goodness, the last thing he actually wanted, but then…

Well, then Itachi had gotten out of his car.

He’d gotten out and stood on the sidewalk, staring him dead in the eyes after Sasuke pushed him away.

Just that hadn’t been enough though. It hadn’t been proof. Because who was Naruto to say that Itachi had actually seen what had happened? Maybe he’d just gotten out of his car right then purely out of coincidence.

It wasn’t _likely_ that that was the reason, but Naruto wanted to be sure.

So, yes, he kissed Sasuke again.

And the second time, he didn’t feel as bad. He couldn’t feel as bad because Sasuke was supposed to be with _him_. He was supposed to be _his_ boyfriend. Belong to him.

And say that he loved Naruto back.

It did hurt that he wouldn’t say it back right now. That Sasuke kept denying it, but he wouldn’t have to keep denying it soon.

_“Naruto, please don’t come tomorrow. I think you and Sasuke need some space.”_

Naruto reread the text that Sakura had sent him after he’d waved her off and headed home after seeing Sasuke and Itachi get into the car. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the message.

The last thing that he and Sasuke needed was space.

Sasuke and Itachi on the other hand…

As the sun finished setting outside, Naruto slipped his phone in his pocket and started out his door. He paused just as he was about to lock it and jotted back inside quickly.

When he came out again he had his jacket with him.

He’d learned from last time, after all.

The credits rolled on the second movie they’d watched and Sasuke stood up and stretched, nudging Itachi’s foot with his own as his brother watched him.

“I called it,” he taunted with a little smile. “So that makes me two for two.”

They’d watched two horror flicks and Sasuke had accurately called the killers in both movies during the first thirty minutes. Itachi had gotten both of them wrong.

“How sad for you though,” Sasuke added cheekily.

“I purposely picked the wrong guys,” Itachi said with a wave of his hand as he stood up as well.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stepped closer so he could wrap his arms around Itachi’s neck. “Yeah, okay, you keep telling yourself that.”

“I will, gladly,” Itachi said with a little laugh, but he pulled himself away from Sasuke and picked up a glass from the coffee table like he’d been meaning to do it for hours now.

When he started to walk away though, Sasuke grabbed his hand. Itachi had been shying away from touching him ever since they’d gotten back, and while he might have appreciated his brother’s care for the first, like, twenty minutes, Sasuke had quickly grown tired of it. Especially when Itachi had refused to give him more than a quick peck whenever Sasuke tried to kiss him.

“I’m not broken, Itachi.”

“I know that,” Itachi replied quickly, but he still slipped his hand out of Sasuke’s and went into the kitchen to put the glass in the sink.

“Do you? Because you’re treating me like a child.”

“No, I’m…” Itachi sighed and put his hands on the edge of the sink. His back was still to Sasuke. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I am,” Sasuke insisted. “And I asked you to help me forget about it.”

Itachi turned and gestured over to the TV.

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?”

Sasuke shook his head. He walked over and stopped in front of Itachi, close enough that all his brother would need to do is reach out and he could touch him. But Itachi didn’t make a move; he just stood there, watching Sasuke carefully.

“You won’t touch me. You won't even kiss me now, Itachi…”

Not that a kiss would make him forget what had happened, but it would mean that Itachi didn’t think he was spoiled and dirty because of what Naruto had done. It would mean that Itachi didn’t blame him for what had happened, and Sasuke needed that right now. He needed to know that Itachi still loved him. Still wanted to be with him.

He didn’t say all of that though. He didn’t know how he could. Itachi would probably have just waved away his concerns and told him that of course he still loved him, nothing would change that, but Itachi’s actions now were speaking louder than any of his words could.

“I want to. You know I want to, Sasuke. I just--”

“No, I don’t know that,” Sasuke interrupted. “All I _know_ right now is that you don’t seem to want anything to do with me.”

“Sasuke, _no_ ,” Itachi said firmly. His eyes looked sad. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

Sasuke stepped forward, closing the last bit of space between them. He snaked his arms around Itachi’s neck again and looked at him seriously.

“You could never hurt me, Itachi. You make me feel better and I need that. I need you.”

Finally, _thankfully_ , Itachi wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s waist and pulled him just a little closer before he tentatively matched their lips together in a soft, slow kiss that made Sasuke sigh. He savored the way Itachi’s tongue slid against his, not in any kind of hurry to finish tasting and exploring him. Not rushing to break away and say that that was enough.

No, it was actually Sasuke who pulled away from him, smiling softly and pressing a quick kiss to his brother’s lips before he stepped away and grabbed Itachi’s hand so he could tug him over to the couch.

He pushed Itachi down onto the couch and then got into his lap, just how he had that morning when things had been easier. Simpler.

He just wanted to go back to that now.

“Let’s pretend that it didn’t happen, okay?”

Itachi opened his mouth, probably to argue, but Sasuke pressed a finger to his brother’s lips to keep him quiet.

“Just for a little while, not forever. I just want to have something good right now. I just want to have you.”

He kept his finger against Itachi’s lips until he got a nod, and then he only moved it so he could replace his finger with his own lips, licking into his brother’s mouth as he reached up and tugged the hair tie out of Itachi’s hair. Raven hair cascaded down and Sasuke smiled into their kiss when he was able to thread his fingers through it.

Itachi let out a soft little moan at the attention and let his hands settle on Sasuke’s hips, digging his fingers in just the slightest bit. Enough that Sasuke knew he wasn’t completely scared to touch him now.

That made him feel a little more daring and he pulled on Itachi’s hair, making his brother break their kiss as he gasped and titled his head back just a little bit. He didn’t tell him to stop though, so Sasuke pulled a little bit more, until Itachi’s entire throat was bared to him.

“Sasuke,” Itachi whispered, but it wasn’t followed by anything. Not that they should stop or that he didn’t want it, so Sasuke continued.

He pressed his lips to Itachi’s neck, working down the pale, sensitive skin until he could feel his brother’s pulse pounding under his tongue, then he bit down. Itachi squirmed underneath him as Sasuke sucked a mark into his skin, at one point drawing out another gasp and then a soft moan before he pulled away and ran his fingers over the mark.

“You’re mine,” Sasuke claimed quietly, sliding his fingers down to the front of Itachi’s shirt but he stopped short of undoing the first button.

Itachi tilted his head forward and looked at Sasuke questioningly.

“I can stop, if you want,” Sasuke said. “If this is making you uncomfortable.”

A few emotions crossed Itachi’s face, concern, surprise, indignance. But Sasuke liked seeing the desperation that settled in his brother’s eyes the most, right before Itachi pulled him closer, so that their lips were only an inch or so apart.

“Don’t stop.”

Sasuke smiled and closed the small gap between them as his fingers went to work opening Itachi’s shirt. He ran his hands up the strong, warm chest once he was finished, pushing the shirt open happily before he leaned back just to look at Itachi.

“This almost reminds me of this morning…” Sasuke said idly.

Itachi hummed in agreement. “I enjoyed this morning.”

“I enjoyed something you _said_ this morning, though I’d like to hear it again.”

“Oh? And what did I say?”

Sasuke shook his head. “You know exactly what you said, Itachi.”

A smirk pulled at Itachi’s lips and he shrugged noncommittally as his arms slid around Sasuke’s waist to hold him.

“Maybe, but what are you willing to do to make me say it again?”

Liking the sound of that challenge, Sasuke leaned into him, pressing one hand flat against his chest while the other went up to stroke the nape of Itachi’s neck. He brought his mouth to Itachi’s ear and smiled.

“Whatever it takes,” he promised.

Then he tangled his hand in Itachi’s hair and pulled it just a little harder than he had before, drawing his brother’s head back at the same moment that his other fingers circled Itachi’s right nipple. The touch was teasing for a brief moment before pinching and twisting at the bud, abusing it until broken noises started falling from Itachi’s parted lips.

He felt his brother start growing hard underneath him and he ground his hips down just a bit, enough that Itachi could get a taste of the friction Sasuke was sure he wanted.

“Just tell me,” Sasuke whispered hotly against Itachi’s ear, purposefully gasping against him as he helped their hips meet again. “I promise, I’ll give you whatever you want.”

Itachi whispered his name and dug his nails into Sasuke’s back. The soft, biting pressure made him moan and he felt his control start to slip. It was just for a second though, just long enough to make him stop his ministrations and lower his head so he could pant quietly against Itachi’s neck.

“Then show me how badly you want me,” Itachi said quietly.

A warm tingle ran through Sasuke at that, settling deep in his stomach as he felt his cock throb with want. He pulled back from Itachi a little bit so he could look at him, catching the mischievous glint in the dark eyes that let Sasuke know he was willing to push him as far as he could.

Until one of them was desperate enough to break.

The thought made Sasuke tug at his lower lip with his teeth as he nodded, mumbling out a quiet, “Okay,” before pushing himself back into an upright position. He shifted slightly in Itachi’s lap and made sure his brother was watching him before he reached down and started to lift his shirt up.

Itachi’s eyes immediately went down to the small expanse of skin he was now showing, following Sasuke’s hand every inch of the way as he pulled his shirt up a little higher and then higher still. Until he was tugging the garment over his head and then tossing it somewhere behind him.

And to his brother’s credit, Itachi didn’t say a word about the twin bruises on his arms. He barely even gave them a passing glance once Sasuke's chest and arms were completely bared to him, which Sasuke appreciated.

So much so, that he took one of Itachi’s hands in his and pressed it flat to his chest. Letting Itachi feel how hot he felt, how his breath caught at even such a simple touch, how his heart beat loudly throughout his entire body. Then he dragged the hand down his chest and over his stomach, the muscles contracting just slightly at the attention, before he stopped, letting Itachi's fingers hover by the button of his pants.

He let go of Itachi’s hand, brushed their fingers together and quickly undid his pants, letting out a soft sigh as he gave Itachi some type of satisfaction and slid his hand into his boxers so he could stroke himself slowly.

Itachi took in a sharp breath as he watched, and Sasuke smiled at his brother’s rapt attention to the way his body moved and strained for more of his own touch.

“Is this what you wanted?” Sasuke asked, mewling as he moved his hand quicker.

His eyes were almost closed from the pleasure he felt coursing through his veins, but he still caught the way Itachi shook his head, just the slightest bit, as his fingers twitched a little closer to Sasuke. Wanting to reach out and touch him and help him find his release.

Itachi stopped himself though, not ready for this to be over.

“I want you…” Itachi breathed out.

Sasuke swore quietly under his breath and even though it was a struggle to stop chasing after the promise of his orgasm, he pulled his hand away from himself. He put both of his hands on Itachi’s chest and looked at him pleadingly.

“Then tell me what I want to hear and you can have me.”

“Sasuke…” Itachi said his name quietly, but didn’t say anything more.

Sasuke groaned, but just as he opened his mouth to press him further, Itachi put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him close, until their lips were just brushing together. They watched each other intently and a moment of anticipation hung between them before Itachi finally spoke.

“Fuck me.”

The admission sent a wave of heat surging through Sasuke. It went straight to his cock and threatened to make him lose his mind with how much he wanted his brother. While he still had his senses though, he managed to at least ask one question:

“Are you sure?”

Itachi just managed one broken word.

“ _Please_.”

Sasuke didn’t need any more encouragement than that. He stood up, pulling Itachi up off the couch with him so he could lead him into the bedroom. Out of habit, he closed the door behind them and then pushed Itachi up against it to kiss him, slipping the shirt from his shoulders so it fell to the floor at their feet.

Then they worked on the rest of each other's clothing, quickly undressing before Sasuke’s hands found Itachi’s hips and he pulled his brother to him. They groaned into one another when their cocks brushed together, creating a delicious friction that Sasuke wasn’t keen to leave behind.

Itachi pulled away though, and he started to beg, “Sasuke, please, _I need you_.”

Sasuke licked at his lips and nodded, guiding Itachi over to the end of the bed just to push him down. He watched as Itachi situated himself a little better, but when he watched his brother’s legs fall open, giving him the most fantastic view of Itachi’s hard, weeping cock and twitching hole, Sasuke’s mouth went dry.

“My god…” Sasuke mumbled to himself as he moved and came to rest between Itachi’s legs.

He leaned over Itachi, steadying himself with a hand on either side of his brother’s head and felt a little bit of trepidation at the prospect laid out underneath him.

So, for good measure, he asked again.

“Are you really sure you want this?”

In answer, Itachi batted Sasuke’s right arm away so he could reach over to the bedside table and open the drawer. He pulled out a little bottle of lube and pressed it into Sasuke’s hand when he settled onto his back again.

“I’ll finger myself in front of you until I come if you _don’t_ fuck me. So, really, it’s your choice.”

Sasuke cursed under his breath at the imagine that was conjured in his mind, and as enticing as it was to see that idea become a reality, he decided that it could wait for another time.

The sound of the cap clicking open filled the room and the same anticipation from a few minutes ago settled in Sasuke’s chest as he liberally coated three of his fingers, clicked the cap closed and then set the bottle to the side.

He felt every second tick by and counted every breath he took as he looked down at Itachi again and then brought his fingers to his brother’s entrance, pressing one against him gently. Almost immediately, he felt Itachi relax and Sasuke was able to easily work the first and then even the second finger inside.

He went slowly, enjoying the way Itachi’s hips rolled down to meet every thrust of his fingers and the soft pants and mewls that kept falling from his lips. When he felt confident enough, Sasuke worked his third finger inside and then groaned when Itachi’s back arched off the bed a few thrusts later and he called out Sasuke’s name.

"Fuck," Sasuke said with a shuddering breath.

His eyes were trained on the way Itachi gripped the blanket beneath him as he started to fuck himself in earnest against Sasuke's fingers. It only took a moment for him to understand that Itachi was trying to get him to brush against his prostate again, but when he figured it out he used his other hand to press down on Itachi's hips and hold him still.

"Not _fair_ ," Itachi started to whine, cracking his eyes open to glare at him.

Sasuke smiled down at him wickedly and though he didn't stop working his fingers inside of him, he did slow down, dragging out every little noise he could as Itachi strained against him for more.

"No? Well I could just do what you did to me the other day…" Sasuke threatened idly.

Itachi shook his head emphatically, knowing exactly what Sasuke meant.

"It was torture, only having your fingers and not even able to touch myself."

He punctuated a few of his words with a quicker, harder thrust of his fingers, just to enjoy how quickly Itachi became a mess underneath him.

"Nonono," Itachi whispered desperately. "I can't, Sasuke, I can't."

"Why not? It felt _so good_ when you finally let me come. Don't you want that?"

He didn't actually have any intention of doing that to Itachi today because his brother looked far too delectable with a dark flush and sheen of sweat across his body. But it was fun to tease, to torture, to be in control of every little thing Itachi felt.

He also wanted to see how much more Itachi could take before he broke completely. Sasuke knew his own limits, but Itachi's were completely new to him.

Though apparently, those words and another few thrusts of his fingers was all Itachi needed to snap and start begging in earnest.

"You, want you so bad, inside me, need you. Pleaseplease _please just fuck me_."

His pleas were more or less a coherent babble and Sasuke was happy enough with what he heard to finally pull his fingers out, slick his cock with more lube and then start to push into his brother slowly.

They gasped together at the feeling and it took every last bit of self control Sasuke had to stop himself from just thrusting himself into Itachi completely. He felt so hot and tight around him though and it drove Sasuke more and more crazy with every inch of him that was swallowed up by Itachi's greedy body.

“Oh my god,” Sasuke breathed out, falling forward to hover over Itachi.

He touched their foreheads together and fisted the pillow that Itachi was laying on in both of his hands once he had filled him completely. Waiting to be told that it was okay to move, to finish what they’d started and take his brother until there was no question who he belonged to.

Itachi’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he caught his breath, letting out little sounds as his body adjusted until he moved and wrapped his legs around Sasuke's waist and rolled his hips. He set them into motion and Sasuke reached down to grab Itachi’s thigh, digging his fingers into his brother’s skin as he pulled out of him and then quickly thrust back in.

A moan ripped out of both of them and Itachi pulled Sasuke down into a kiss as their hips met again and again. And for a moment, the silence of the house was punctuated only by the obscene slapping of their skin.

Until one of them shifted and Sasuke hit that spot inside of him that made Itachi throw his head back and cry out. 

From that moment, they both lost themselves. Sasuke’s fingers were digging into his brother’s skin hard enough to bruise and Itachi scratched his nails down Sasuke’s back, leaving a stinging burn behind that made Sasuke gasp. He could feel himself getting close to the edge and he pressed a series of open mouthed kisses to Itachi’s lips, jaw and neck.

“Itachi, _fuck_ , I’m--”

Itachi nodded at Sasuke’s broken warning and opened his mouth to say something in reply at the same moment Sasuke’s hips snapped forward, thrusting back into him hard. Whatever Itachi had been about to say died as Sasuke’s name fell from his lips like a prayer instead before he just reached down to take his cock in his hand, stroking himself quickly.

Watching his brother pleasure himself was all Sasuke needed to finally lose himself and his hips stuttered in a few quick thrusts before he buried himself as deep as he could in Itachi and came inside him. As his orgasm quickly washed over him, he gasped against Itachi’s neck, a slew of curses interspersed with Itachi’s name falling out of him with abandon.

And when Itachi came a couple moments later, coating their torsos in his seed, Sasuke let out one last groan as he enjoyed the feeling of Itachi’s insides contracting around his sensitive cock. Then, once his brother was spent, Sasuke pulled out of him and flopped down beside him on the bed.

They both caught their breath for a couple of minutes and just as the sweat cooling on his body was starting to make him cold, Itachi turned over to face Sasuke. He put his hand on Sasuke’s chest and smiled at him in satisfaction.

“You have no idea how long I’ve thought about doing that.”

Sasuke grinned sleepily and shook his head.

“I had no idea you’d ever even…”

His words trailed off but Itachi brought his fingers up to brush gently against his lips.

“Well, now you know, so keep it in mind for the future.”

Sasuke groaned softly and rolled over to sling his arm over Itachi’s waist and kiss him. He felt happy and sated and safe in his brother’s arms, and he felt like he could stay here forever.

But till the morning would have to do

“I love you so much,” he mumbled against Itachi’s lips.

Itachi kissed him again.

“I love you, too.”

Naruto looked down at his phone, at the camera app that was still open and pointing down toward the dirt.

Inside, the living room was empty now, but Naruto had seen enough. Crouched outside the window with the cracked curtain at Itachi’s house, he’d seen everything. Watched every moment play out in front of him with a sense of sick satisfaction.

Because now, he’d gotten more than enough to prove what he needed to.

Which meant that tomorrow…

He sighed.

Tomorrow, Sasuke would be his again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it has been brought to my attention by two wonderful reviewers, I just want to put a note here to let you all know that there will be NO rape/non-con in this story. So anyone who might be worried about or triggered by those things, please rest assured that all will be fine here in that regard.


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